Icebreaker Founder Jeremy Moon has teamed up with other respected Kiwi business leaders to form Pure Advantage. The nonprofit organization, which launched on July 7, 2011, aims to protect and restore New Zealand’s pure, environmentally responsible image, which, according to the Pure Advantage founders, is in rapid decline due to neglect and is affecting the bottom line for the countrys tourism and export sales.
“Pure Advantage is common sense. As New Zealanders, the environment is a core part of our psyche and is reflected in everything we do, and is expressed through the businesses we create and the products and services, which are unique internationally. People want what we have. However, our environment is taken for granted, pollution is increasing and our reliance on petroleum is increasing,” said Moon. “Pure Advantage is a think tank of committed people who are facilitating a plan for New Zealanders to engage around cleaning up our environment and making New Zealand as pure as it can be, and then ensuring we get commercial advantage from that.”
Moon is one of 11 founding trustees of the organization, who have formed Pure Advantage through their own funding. In addition to signing up supporters online, the organization plans to commission an economic study to define the opportunities for green growth in New Zealand, and to highlight the threats of inaction. This will be followed by a “road map for change” by the organization.
Pure Advantage is in directly line with Moons philosophy about environmental responsibility and transparency, which are the cornerstones of Icebreaker. Said Moon, “It’s about our relationship to nature, and to each other.”
Moon established Icebreaker, New Zealand’s largest adventure-wear exporter of 100 percent New Zealand merino wool, in 1995. Icebreaker was number five on the 2010 Deloitte’s Fast 50 and was recognized as the fastest growing mature business out of the 50 fastest growing companies in New Zealand.
In addition to his responsibilities with Pure Advantage, Moon is the chair of Better by Design, a non-profit group assisting other New Zealand businesses to increase export earnings through integrating design more successfully into their business, strategy, and products. In 2008, Moon was appointed Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business.
