A quick history of the rise and fall of an outdoor brand: Merino wool apparel brand Ibex was founded in 1997 in Woodstock, Vermont, by avid mountaineers who wanted to create outdoor clothing that was an alternative to polyester and nylon.
The original owners saw merino wool as a good option and began to build the company.
During that time, Ibex was competing with Smartwool and icebreaker as three of the main merino wool-based apparel brands in the outdoor industry.
Ibex was gaining a loyal, dedicated following until leadership in the company made some ill-fated choices that led to them burning their wholesale partners and going strictly direct-to-consumer.
Retailers were angry. For example, Todd Frank, owner of The Trail Head in Missoula, Montana, wrote an opinion article in Outside Business Journal in 2017 headlined “Don’t Be Like Ibex.”
The Daily spoke with new brand leadership about its plan to bring the company back, including rebuilding wholesale partnerships.
New Life
In late 2018 David Hazan saw the potential of the company, bought it, and brought on a small team of people based in Nederland, Colorado, who were fans of the brand.
General Manager Jordan Todoroff had been wearing the brand for more than a decade, as had the brand’s head of sourcing and the in-house photographer, he said.
“All of us were obsessed with Ibex as a brand throughout the years,” Todoroff said. “It was my dream company to work for. We all somehow found our way back here and are working to relaunch and bring it back.”
Jordan Todoroff, general manager of Ibex. Photo courtesy of Ibex.
Ibex relaunched in 2019. Now it employs four full-time staff and a handful of part-time workers and contractors. The goal for Ibex is to surpass its former glory, Todoroff added.
Back to Wholesale
The previous owners had abandoned their wholesale partners and invested heavily in their DTC operation.
“We’re doing the exact opposite now,” Todoroff said. “We love specialty retailers.”
Despite the brand relaunching with a DTC e-commerce component, it’s investing time and effort into building relationships with stores that have a niche following and push people to get outside. Ibex just reentered wholesale in the 2023 fall-winter season and is sold in a handful of shops across the U.S., according to Todoroff.
“We care about being good to our wholesale partners, and retail shops have a lot of very specific needs that you need to be out a year ahead of, and that just took time to ramp up and get things into place,” he said.
Building Partnerships
Although the brand is predominately sold via e-commerce right now, Todoroff said the goal is to get to at least 70% DTC and 30% wholesale soon.
“Ultimately, the more that we can build those partnerships and relationships, the happier we will be,” he added. “If you want to sell high-quality gear, you have a shadow of that performance online, versus what you could have in a face-to-face interaction with a true professional, which is what you get in specialty retail.”
Quality Pitch
To get retailers’ attention, Ibex is pitching quality and sustainability. It bills itself as a premium, full-price brand.
“We don’t want to make a whole bunch of excess gear that has to get purged through discount channels,” Todoroff said.
Photo courtesy of Ibex.
Excess inventory would not only have a negative environmental impact, but creates financial risk that the brand doesn’t want to carry.
Todoroff said the goal for Ibex is to make clothing that lasts 15 years or more, long enough that “your partner complains about it and says it’s disgusting. You need to get a new one.”
Merino Trend
Along with the merino wool brands mentioned previously, the industry has seen Houdini, Artilect Studios, and others use the fiber for apparel.
Todoroff sees the material as perfect for outdoor consumers for various reasons, including that it’s compostable, it keeps its color, and it has natural elasticity.
Brands also tout merino wool’s temperature regulation properties and that it doesn’t have to be washed as frequently as other fabrics.
Ibex’s wool is also PFAS-free.
Reputation Clean-Up
Todoroff acknowledges that trying to correct the industry’s perception of Ibex is an uphill battle.
“I would not recommend anyone try to resurrect a legacy brand after having gone through it,” he said. “I’m really glad I did, but I’d say it’s not for the faint of heart.”
People on the new Ibex team have had retailers come up to them and admonish them for past behavior.
Photo courtesy of Ibex.
According to Todoroff, the general sentiment at the time Ibex pulled out of wholesale was that the retailers had helped build the brand’s customers base, and Ibex had pulled them away to their DTC channel.
“It was obviously disrespectful,” he said. “They went out with a bang, and certainly not a good one.”
Ibex leadership is doing a lot of work now to reassure retailers that they won’t do it again.
“We have gone through a lot to make sure that we could bring this back the way that we wanted,” Todoroff said.
Future Focus
The brand has launched a sub-label called Ibex Labs that’s producing high-quality, small-run experimental products, playing around with textiles and new fibers.
Yarn-spinning is undergoing some exciting new developments right now, according to Todoroff.
Photo courtesy of Ibex.
Looking ahead, Ibex plans to hone in on three pillars: Elite performance, no BS sustainability, and brand heritage.
“Our goal is to thread the needle between all three of those,” Todoroff said.
