New Zealand-based Icebreaker has signed a lease for 16,500 square feet in Portland for an expanded U.S. headquarters. The company will renovate the space in a bid to win LEED certification. The new space will allow the company to centralize its US sales and marketing operations and Global Design Studio starting in the spring of 2009.
“Portland is legendary for its friendliness and has been most welcoming to our Kiwi company,” said Russ Hopcus, President of Icebreakers fast-growing US company. “Icebreaker shares Oregons values of innovation, sustainability and respect for the environment. This is a great new home for us.”
In spring, 2007 Icebreaker opened its Global Design Studio in Portland to capitalize on the pool of design talent in the area, which is home to many sporting goods companies. Later that year, the company announced it would move its U.S. headquarters from Ketchum, ID to Portland, a move that was completed in spring, 2008. Icebreaker then opened its first US retail Touch_Lab store on the corner of NW 11th and West Burnside, across from Powells Books, in December 2007. The company now employs 40 people in Oregon and expects its headcount to expand to 70 in the next 24 months.
