Icebreaker is relocating its new U.S. headquarters in Portland, OR to a new site in the city. The New Zealand maker of outdoor apparel signed a lease for 16,500 square feet of rentable space at 1330 N.W. 14th St. The company will renovate the space for LEED certification and use it to house U.S. sales and marketing operations and Icebreakers Global Design Studio starting in the spring of 2009. Currently, Icebreaker has two office locations in Portland’s Pearl District.
“Portland is legendary for its friendliness and has been most welcoming to our Kiwi company,” said Russ Hopcus, president of Icebreaker’s U.S. company. “Icebreaker shares Oregon’s values of innovation, sustainability and respect for the environment. This is a great new home for us.”
The company now employs 40 people in Oregon and expects to expand to 70 in the next two years. In spring 2007 Icebreaker opened its Global Design Studio in Portland. Later that year, it announced it would move its U.S. headquarters from Ketchum, ID., to Portland, a move completed in spring 2008. Icebreaker also opened its first U.S. retail TouchLab store in Portland in December 2007.
