We’re unabashedly big fans of merino wool. And while we love Australia for its great wine, beautiful beaches, and glorious red center, we always wondered why the country has the monopoly on the wool-for-clothing market.  And New Zealand, its antipodal neighbor, is also big player in the game thanks to Icebreaker.  Part of the reason comes down to population—New Zealand has a lot of sheep (enough to inspire a sheep zombie move), while Australia has enough real estate to take on 80 percent of merino wool used in apparel.* But the clever folks at Ibex realized that, with all the transportation costs of sourcing wool half way across the world, it might make sense to talk to some U.S. sheep ranchers about state-side production.

The result? The White River, VT-based company has started working with Montana sheep ranches to source wool entirely form the United States in an effort to both reduce the company’s carbon footprint and to help create and retain jobs in the country. The sheep are raised in the tiny town of Lavina on a ranch run by the Lehfeldt family. For more than a century, the family has raised Rambouillet sheep (think big, fluffy, and curved horns). The breed, known for super-soft, ultra-fine wool, originated from Spain’s famed merino flock.  After shearing, the wool travels to South Carolina, where it is combed and scoured, then it heads North Carolina where it’s spun into yarn and knitted into fabric. Finally, the fabric is sent to Ibex’s factories near San Francisco, where it is cut and sewn into finished garments.

This Fall, Ibex’s best-selling Shak Lite line of upper layers are made from the 100 percent U.S.-raised wool. The tops are so versatile that you’ll wear them as a skiing mid-layer, a top layer for hiking, and pretty much every day you want to look good and feel comfortable—and they’re so well built that you’ll probably pass them down to your kids. We hope other products, like the Gearzilla All-Star Long Trail Sweater, will follow suit.

*Updated from previous post. Thanks to Eric H

Last month, Columbia Sportswear and its subsidiary brand Mountain Hardwear unveiled a new technology that will serve as the cornerstone of both company’s spring 2013 apparel lines.  Designed to be the ultimate solution to living the active life in hot climates, the advancement involves laminating small blue polymer “sweat-activated” rings on the inside of polyester apparel. As you exert yourself, these donut-shaped rings absorb your sweat and then the shirt drops in temperature, cooling off the wearer before the moisture evaporates. Columbia calls it Omni-Freeze Zero, and Mountain Hardwear dubs it Cool.Q ZERO, but the innovation is the same—and it marks the first time a tech feature will be highlighted by both brands.

The specific science behind the cooling sensation remains a tightly-guarded secret, but we’re happy to report that it works. We tested out several pieces of Omni-Freeze ZERO apparel while mountain biking in Sedona and on a multi-day backpacking foray into Havasu Falls, Arizona. In those arid climes, our sweat typically evaporated before the rings could fully absorb it; but we did notice cooling in less-vented areas like the small of the back, and when we soaked a neck gaiter made out of the material, it kept our neck and head refreshed and cool in the punishing mid-day Arizona sun.

But back in the over-humid heat wave that plagued the Mid-Atlantic in late June, the shirts really performed. We were noticeably cooler anywhere the Omni-Freeze ZERO fabric touched our sweat-drenched skin, including running, hiking, and biking in 100+-degree temps with record-break humidity. Treadmill runs echoed our in-the-field testing, though the shirts become a bit too stretchy when they were fully saturated.

This innovation may be a seismic shift for the outdoor industry. In addition to uses in the active wear, Omni-Freeze ZERO and Cool.Q ZERO could have far-reaching applications, including in travel apparel, EMT and rescue worker uniforms, and pretty much any situation where hot temperatures are a reality.

We’ll continue to test out these products throughout the summer and report back.  Right now, the Freeze Degree Short-Sleeved Crew (which combines the Omni-Freeze Zero tech with panels of Columbia’s Omin-Wick tech) and the Freeze Zero Neck Gaiter (pictured above) are tracking as must-haves.

Introducing Gearzilla’s The Future of Gear, a new column that will highlight some of the coolest trends in the outdoor and travel gear industry, profile industry leaders and their ground-breaking ideas, and preview some of the best new product slated to hit the market in the coming months.

Apparel and gear manufacturer Patagonia recently introduced the sale of used product on their web store.  Part of the company’s Community Threads Initiative—which encourages consumers to buy only what they need, repair what breaks, share what they no longer need, and recycle everything else—this move continues to promote the company’s robust pro-environment identity.

The new feature displays product that’s on sale on eBay within patagonia.com’s Used Clothing and Gear section, filtered by gender and product type, as well as kid’s gear.  Interacting with the specific products takes you to eBay itself, which handles product fulfillment in its typical fashion (Patagonia also includes instructions on how to sell your used product, aping the step-by-steps that lets you sell stuff on eBay.)

From a business perspective, they could potentially erode the sale of some of their latest and greatest (regularly priced) product by promoting the same stuff at half the cost. But there’s no real overhead for Patagonia, either; eBay’s auctioneers handle all the specifics of each sale while Patagonia product stays in the hands (and on the backs) of happy travelers and lovers of the outdoors, boosting brand loyalty. The play also reinforces the durability story of the brand and serves as a solid platform to promote their pledge to reduce the environmental footprint implicit in gear and apparel manufacturing—a pledge we encourage you all to take.

Got something you want us to cover in The Future of Gear? Let us know by adding a comment!