The Ibex Clothing Company, Inc. is a producer of wool clothing, designed for outdoor use that sells their clothing through their website and retailers. For the year 2001, Ibex made US$1.5 million in sales.^[1]

The company began when Peter Helmetag and John Fernsel met one another in 1997. Both men shared a passion for wool and the outdoors. The former grew up in a strong familiarity with wool, as his great grandfather owned a wool mill in Pennsylvania. The latter was also an avid outdoor recreationalist and had developed a passion for wool because, in his words “Everything looked the same and didn’t work. It was all either Gore-Tex or polyester fleece.”^[2]

Wool Specialization

Ibex uses Wool as the primary fabric in all Ibex clothing. In their rather passionate support of using wool for indoor/outdoor, rugged/casual clothes, the members of Ibex cite its ability to regulate temperature, anti-microbial properties, and its resistance to wear. In addition, wool maintains all of its beneficial properties even when soaking wet. Also, wool fibers are hygroscopic, meaning they readily absorb and give off moisture. In practice, this means your wool clothing will naturally wick away sweat.^[3] As common wool has a tendency to be heavy and itchy, Merino wool is often used in the creation of lighterweight or casual products. Heavier, coarser wool is used for outerwear, such as jackets, vests, and bottoms although such garments are usually lined with the finer Merino Wool.

Environmental Ethics

In addition to its dedication to natural, renewable materials, Ibex also works toward environmental empathy in its internal operations. Their most outward pursuit of environmentalism is their use of CVPS Cow Power. According to Business Wire, Ibex consumed over 36,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in cow power over the year 2005–2006.^[4]

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