Icebreaker, the New Zealand company that pioneered the outdoor merino wool apparel category, announced it will open its first store in Western Canada in March 2011.


The 1,800-square-foot store will be located in Vancouver, BC in the Kitsilano neighborhood at 2089 West 4th Avenue, near the corner of Arbutus. Icebreaker has one other TouchLab store in Canada at 1515 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest in Montréal, Quebec.

Natural, sustainably produced Icebreaker merino regulates body temperature in all climates, is highly breathable to prevent the clamminess associated with synthetics, and protects wearers from the sun’s harmful rays. It’s also no stink, resisting odor for days – sometimes weeks – without washing.


The new TouchLab retail store will showcase the complete Icebreaker line from its Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and City collections, all made from merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.


“We call this a TouchLab store because it’s all about touch,” said Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker’s founder and CEO. “Visitors will enter the store and start by being able to touch raw merino fibre. Icebreaker merino is so soft that often people don’t even realize it’s wool. Merino is so beautiful that we want people to touch the fabric and start a conversation about it, and then discover how great it is for hiking, skiing, running, biking, and just kicking around the city.”


The Kitsilano neighborhood is home to a high concentration of healthy, fit shoppers that match Icebreaker’s target demographic. These shoppers are known for being early adopters and setting trends. Icebreaker was also attracted to the neighborhood by the concentration of other lifestyle retailers with stores in the area, including The North Face, Roots and Lululemon. Several Vancouver area specialty retailers, including Eco Outdoor Sports, Skiis and Biikes, Sigge’s Sports Villa, Strub Sports, Atmosphere Sports, On the Rivet, Europe Bound and Australian Boot Company, currently sell Icebreaker. Icebreaker expects the move to improve overall brand awareness for them as well.


Icebreaker Design is working with local architects from Vancouver Nick Sully from SHAPE Architecture, for the Kitsilano TouchLab. The store will be the company’s seventh TouchLab in the world. In North America, in addition to the TouchLab store in Montréal, Quebec, the company has a store in Portland, OR. It opened its first flagship TouchLab store in New York City on Dec. 1, 2010.