Like many other small niche companies, we do one thing only – and, we think, do it not just well, but better than anyone else. We do Merino. Not just any old merino. We do the best merino. Guaranteed New Zealand Merino using superfine and fine grades.

Why do we think it's the best?

• We don't try and cheapen production costs by mixing it with dubious additions of synthetics, coconut fibre, cotton, or elastane, (apart from some in socks and gloves needed for durability due to impact).
• We source our fabric from the world leaders in the manufacture of merino jersey fabric – Designer Textiles, Auckland who pioneered the Merino Advanced Performance Programme – a double jersey merino engineered specifically for outdoor activity.
• We have our gear made by Soma Ltd., a family-owned company in New Zealand with 80 years experience of making top quality merino gear – in the past for the likes of Icebreaker & Swanndri before they moved production to China, Howies before they were taken over by Smartwool/Timberland - and now VF Corporation and production moved to China and Fiji, and Swazi. Soma's expertise is second-to-none.

Why do we ONLY sell Merino (apart from the merino that's got a bit of possum in it)? Simple - it's what we know about - we really are the Merino Experts. A long family association with sheep, the wool trade, and knowledge of the UK garment industry (when we still had one), added to the expertise of Soma-President and Designer Textiles puts our gear right at the top when it comes to quality. So if you want:

• Top quality, versatile, high performance merino outdoor gear
• Made ethically in working conditions that are civilized and open to scrutiny
• By people who are the world's best, not merely the world's cheapest
• Under environmental manufacturing regulations that are amongst the toughest in the world
• From wool that is guaranteed to be from sheep raised to the highest animal welfare standards, which includes a non-mulesing policy

Then we think our gear is simply the best there is. We also try to give customer service to match the quality of our merino.

Long-term design

It's more than just a devotion to the wooly stuff. It's also about our basic belief that the first step towards reducing negative enviornmental impact is to reduce the use of resources, and in particular those that are non-renewable and unsustainable. We believe that it is absolutely crucial to think long-term, and wear clothes that are multi-functional, versatile, and timeless in design, that will last a long time. So that is what we design and commission, with consideration for the environment being a natural part of our decision-making process.

Manufacture

Most outdoor gear is made using unsustainable, non-renewable synthetics that are also not biodegradable. Clothing made from synthetics is a huge problem for the environment, causing and creating pollution every step of the way. Whilst we accept that synthetics are an essential choice for certain garments, for baselayers they are the wrong choice. We believe that synthetics should be used only where there is no viable alternative. In the case of baselayers, merino is actually the better choice not only in terms of the environment, but in terms of performance as well.

Use of Materials

Here at Chocolate Fish Merino we try to follow good environmental practice every step of the way. Apart from only sourcing our merino wool and merino fabric from New Zealand, our clothing range is made in New Zealand. We don't need to worry about "Codes of Conduct" and the use of child labour and worker exploitation. New Zealand's tough labour laws takes care of that. We use minimal packaging, and even our postal bags are re-usable and degradable. All our office paper, and we use very little other than for packing slips, and our garment tags are made from recycled paper and card. Even our shipping system is localised. We use Royal Mail and our local Post Office which is only 5 minutes from our centre.

Our aim is to get our products made in as environmentally-friendly manner as possible. We admit this isn't the cheapest or quickest way, but to us it's the obvious way.

Company ethos

We have always been heavily influenced by the philosophy of E.F. Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered". We believe that conventional economic thinking fails to consider the most appropriate scale for an activity. We do not believe that growth is necessarily good, or that "bigger is better". We beieve that mass production is not appropriate to a stable society, but rather, as Schumacher puts it, we should be supporting "production by the masses". Schumacher said "Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful". We agree.

We also look to the Mondragon Corporation for inspiration. The Mondragon Corporation is a federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain that operates in accordance with a business model based on People and the Sovereignty of Labour. It has developed highly participative companies with a strong social dimension without neglecting business excellence. The Co-operatives are owned by their worker-members and power is based on the principle of one person, one vote. At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between the worker-owners who do executive work and those who work in the field or factory and earn a minimum wage. These ratios range average 5:1, that is the general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in his/her cooperative although in reality this ratio is smaller because there are few Mondragon worker-owners that earn minimum wages.

In our small company, none of us earns an hourly rate more than 3 times that of anyone else.

How we can help the environment

There are lots of things we can do to reduce our personal impact on the enviroment. These are just a few.

1. Choose well-designed, functional products you can use until they are worn out. Did you know that almost all the garments being made in China are specifically designed to last no longer than 6 washes?!. 2. Look after what you have. Choose clothes that don't need to be forever in the wash, and when you do wash them, use environmentally-friendly detergents. 3. Recyle. If you have clothing or gear you no longer want or need, give it away, or sell it. Want to know more about us and how we started? Click here for our story.

Merino Baselayers 195 gsm Merino baselayer & tops 260 gsm

260gsm Merino Crews 260gsm Merino Zipnecks 260gsm Merino Hoodies

MKM Original Wool Crew MKM Original Wool Zipneck MKM Original Merino-Possum Zipneck

Men's Singlsts Merino T-Shirts Merino 190 Long sleeve Crews Merino 260 Merino Long-sleeve Crews Merino 190 Zipnecks Merino 260 Zipnecks Merino 260 Hooded Tops Classic wool sweaters Merino-Possum Zipneck Sweater 36.6 Double Possum range

Classic wool sweater Classic Wool Zipneck

36.6 Zipneck 36.6 Hoodies

Women's Merino Camis Women's Merino Singlet Women's Merino T-Shirt Women's Merino "Freedom" Leggings

Merino Beanies Merino Balaclava Merino Neckgaiters & Buffs Merino Gloves Merino Wool Socks

Merino-possum reviews Merino Possum Beanies Merino-Possum Gloves Merino-Possum Scarves Merino-Possum Socks Merino-Possum Zipneck