Icebreaker
Icebreaker clothing is straight from the sheep’s back; they design, manufacture and market fine merino wool outdoor clothing. Icebreaker’s Baa 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.
Baa Code
Icebreaker introduced Baa Code in August 2008. Now all Icebreaker garments have an internal label bearing a Baa code. 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 the living conditions of the sheep to demonstrate each farm’s environmental ethics and animal welfare, they even introducing the farmers who raise the sheep.
“For us, sustainability is about transparency and being able to show the whole design of the business, which starts with the growers and continues through every step of the supply chain.”
Icebreaker has a head start in developing a sustainable business, its built around a renewable source. But that’s not enough. The company demonstrates a commitment throughout it’s production processes and provides details about each garment’s manufacture, how they clean the fiber, spin the yarn, make the fabric, and sew the garments. Icebreaker’s manufacturing partners are required to demonstrate strong business ethics, and have an up-to-date manufacturing plant and access to the latest technology. 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.
Case Study
RoofRay
RoofRay
Plan your solar roof with a mash-up of Google maps and weather data.
NextPlays blog
#SB10 - Biolite wins Sustainable Innovation award
We're stoked that Biolite won SB10's Sustainable Innovation award, announced on the last day of the conference. Jonathan Cedar, co-inventor and the nascent company's CEO delivered a great presentation that made clear the significant impact that could be achieved if Biolite (and stoves like it) replace traditional wood-fired stoves in the developing world. The Biolite stove reinvents stoves used for home cooking in Asia, Africa and Latin America by making the burning process more efficient. The greater efficiency the less fuel is used and less smoke is generated. Less smoke, the less harm to the health of the cooks. Biolite has an additional feature; they've developed a process that converts a small part of the thermal energy into electricity. This means that users can recharge electrical devices while cooking, and that's got to be good for developing world users facing regular megacity brown outs, or for those who are off the grid completely.
Subscribe to our newsletter
twitter feeds