New Zealand Celsias

It’s all too easy to take fore granted the process involved in the production of clothing, prior to it sitting pretty on your body. In a bid to provide track the value chain of its clothing, in 2008, Icebreaker introduced an internal label bearing a Baa code, which can now be found on all of its clothing. The code, printed on the garment label, provides customers a transparent view of the value chain, from the sheep station where the wool came from, through all aspects of the manufacturing process. 

Customers can go to the Icebreaker website, enter the Baa Code and trace the merino wool in their garment back to the sheep stations in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The website uses video and photos to show the living conditions of the sheep and to demonstrate each farm’s environmental ethics and animal welfare. 

The company demonstrates a commitment throughout its production processes and provides details about each garment’s manufacture, including how they clean the fibre, spin the yarn, make the fabric and how they sew the garments. Icebreaker’s manufacturing partners are required to demonstrate strong business ethics. They must be part of, or working towards, global quality assurance programs, like ISO 9001. They must also be part of, or working towards, a global environmental assurance program (such as ISO 14001), and/or comply with Oeko-Tex environmental standards for textiles. 

Icebreaker uses Baa Code as a marketing tool. But you don’t make core processes of your business transparent to customers and competitors without ensuring that the claims you make are credible, authentic and verifiable. 

More at: www.icebreaker.com

For the full case study, visit the NextPlay website