In 1994, an American girlfriend introduced me to a merino wool farmer she had stayed with as she backpacked around New Zealand. Brian Brakenridge lived on an isolated island in Marlborough with his family and 8,000 sheep. He had developed some prototype thermal underwear made from 100% pure New Zealand merino wool. He threw me a piece of this extraordinary fabric across the lunch table. It felt soft and sensual, looked lustrous and was totally natural. It was nothing like the wool I had grown up with, which was heavy and scratchy. And you could throw this stuff in the washing machine. My first thought was that maybe I could sell this to the Americans, and pay for a ticket to the US to see my backpacking beau. Hey, I was 24.
But as I wore this fine wool t-shirt, it proved to me - and to the others we showed it to - how well merino wool thermals performed in the outdoors, and how wonderful it felt. I was so enthusiastic about this discovery that I never saw my American girlfriend again - she was jilted by sheep.
- Jeremy Moon, CEO and Founder Icebreaker Thermals
