  I just cannot say that I have ever, in all of my life, wanted to go traipsing off into the hlls to discover which exact specific sheep it was that provided the wool for my lifetimes woth of socks, scarves, gloves, jumpers etc etc, really honestly! I think this is a rather silly marketing gimmick idea truth be told, except for maybe the ultra eco warriors or animal rights fans, or for the kids! I mean, it would be a whole different ballgame if one was going out there tracking down one's 'parent' donor sheep to reunite it with its lost fleece maybe; to help it keep extra warm out in the cold winter darkness of windswept fells or hills. Or even if one was going there as a pilgrimage to take it gifts to provide it a better life in its retirement perhaps; or whisk it away to an animal sanctuary, possibly then to spare it from an old aged death out in deep winter snows! But no, we are just going to say hi!
Baaaah! Humbug!
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 edited. 
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| Edited: 28/10/08 12:51 |
 I quite like it. It's not about contact with the sheep, it's really a journey through the production process of the garment and, of course, it's intended to show Icebreaker in a positive light. It quite unusual for a company to talk openly about their factories in China and how they decide who they're going to work with.
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Come on now there tbf, don't be 'sheepish' with us all here, tell me what you really thought!
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| Edited: 28/10/08 12:57 |
It quite unusual for a company to talk openly about their factories in China and how they decide who they're going to work with. - Wrote Jon. Yes, ok then. But I still cannot fail but to feel sorry for the poor little sheep that don't make the grade, don't pass the interviews and so don't get the job! Must be like being back at school picking the footie team. I will take him, him and him, not him, don't like his fleece much, and the sheep with the big head can be our goalie!
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| Edited: 28/10/08 13:02 |
I had a Baaa Code in my Icebreaker Mondo I bought a few weeks back. Thing was it was blank, so does that mean mine was made from an anonymous donor sheep? A stealth sheep? Or an illegal immigrant sheep with no paper work.....
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No, by a sad and unfortunate clerical error at work there in their machine, I'm very sad to inform you that you cannot now visit your particular donor sheep, as it was accidentally sent to be shot, rather than shorn!  I blame all of the ex Waffen SS company clerks that they got in to do their original typists training manuals there in the 1950's, myself!
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| Edited: 31/10/08 22:16 |
 How about they run a "win a trip to NZ" competition to visit your sheep. That would be good. I do worry I might find its traced back to that beard though.
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| Edited: 01/11/08 10:18 |
As I say Jules, it would be much better if they did something better overall with the idea, like if it ended up in benefiting the actual sheep for instance; like one being able to perhaps help out adopting it or something, along with other folks that have benefitted from using its wool in this way over its lifetime. Otherwise, really, what is the point I feel! If say one could know that a small set part of the price of a garment went back to help care for the sheep so identified, to maybe make its life better somehow or other. Extra feed or something perhaps. All those small amounts would mount up over a sheep's useful working life for sure. Pennies into pounds! That way a sheep past its useful farming life could be looked after better or something maybe; ending its days in an animal sanctuary, instead of it just dying of the cold in its old age, on some faraway NZ mountainside perhaps.
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What I was trying to say with this thread originally, was that it is not that I think it so much of a half-baked idea at all. Rather just that I think it is a half an idea! Not a full one. Overall I kind of think that it is primarily aimed at getting the attention and interest of the kids rather than the adults really. I just wish the idea actually went somewhere other than nowhere, as it does now. As it is I'm left feeling just 'what's the point' if it does not go some way or another further than showing one a picture of the 'donor' sheep at process end, as it seemingly merely only does right now. 
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| Edited: 02/11/08 15:55 |
 To be fair Trevor I think the sheep are treated quite well. They're mostly left to their own devices in the hills and mountains of the South Island of New Zealand, and while the weather can be a bit harsh there, I can think of worse places to be! Merinos thrive in those sorts of conditions anyway and I'm sure the less contact they have with humans the happier they are. I doubt the sheep would value any "sanctury" we could provide for them anyway and would be much happier to just be left alone to eat, sleep, and hang out in the mountains.
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When happy and healthy maybe, of course yes! But what of the inevitable last days of their wooly lives though Craig, of possible decline to ill health and old age out in the cold?
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Dont tough old sheep get turned into dog food? They have a beter time than sheep farmed for their meet which are killed while young and tender and dont get to reach old age.
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True! But I was just searching my head, kind of thinking out aloud there, for a reason as to why it would be worthwhile in going that route of being re-united with one's 'donor' sheep in the first place, same as you. For it to be worthwhile doing it there should be some direct tangible benefit for either the customer or the sheep in question I felt, which is what I was suggesting here.
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True Jules. At least merinos that are farmed for their wool get to live into old age, as long as they're producing decent quality wool and have a baby or 2 every year! Whereas sheep bred for their meat can be sent to the abattoir from about 12 weeks old. I understand what you're saying Trevor and I think it's a nice idea but I do think that merinos have quite a good life for a sheep. They're shorn once a year which I guess is a stressful couple of days for them but most of the time they're left to their own devices and their only concern is food and shelter which most farmers are quite good at providing. After all their livelihood depends on it. I might be cynical but I don't think Icebreaker are doing this for the benefit of the sheep. It's a marketing exercise designed to improve sales.
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Baaaa! Humbug. To the whole silly idea then!
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 Jules, I am very surprized that now that you are "adoptive Welsh" with a "Tyke" upbringing that you would get involved in a thread with a title like "If you've always wanted to have a relationship with a sheep, now's your chance..."
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When was I formally adopted?? Was it when my mother said I was sounding Welsh and she disowned me.
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 Crumbs, she must be sensitive to accents - I don't think you sound Welsh!!
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Its not all the time, just the way I say certain things. Also she is not used to heaaring Welsh accents so just a little will stand out to her. When I am up north, people sak me where I come from,I dont sound Yorkshire to them anymore, but I do to the people round here. Its all mixed up really. She would not really disown me for sounding Welsh. My Dad would though
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