Amazon killed Ibex
An email from the CEO of a premier US performance apparel brand, Ibex, rocked me today. The company is closing. Outdoor adventurers know the technical benefits of breathable Ibex merino wool. It doesn’t become smelly like synthetics, their pieces wash and dry beautifully, and they hold their colors and shape indefinitely. It costs twice as much as synthetics but it lasts ten times longer. I like it so much we launched some of their performance base layer pieces to the Daily Grommet audience back in 2010.
My hiking buddy friend Jill introduced me to the brand before we attacked the Scottish West Highland Way in 2002. Today we exchanged alarmed alerts when we saw the closure news. I told her I was writing this piece and she said, “Please express my agony. Wahhh.”
She wasn’t being dramatic. It’s painful to see a company you respect, admire, support, and adore simply evaporate. Quality companies and products are not plug and play. Brands like Ibex become part of your life and adventure history. Jill’s husband can travel for two weeks at a time with a small back pack because of Ibex’s functionality. It’s a big loss to him too.
An article from last month presaged the Ibex demise and the line that caught me was:
Ibex is being buffeted by changes in consumer buying habits and bankruptcies among large sporting goods store chains such as Eastern Mountain Sports, Sports Chalet and Sports Authority that have shrunk shelf space.
When we lose quality retailers we lose quality brands, pure and simple. A brand like Ibex could never get credibility by launching on Amazon. They present every product in the same dispassionate flat way: from a commodity electrical extension cord to a silk skirt. So a company like Ibex relies on local specialty stores and chains like Eastern Mountain Sports to build a long term company with a differentiated brand.
When we rip out retail (by buying on Amazon) we rip out our own ability to have quality choices. Ibex’s closure is barely registering in the news today–as a niche technical product, it’s too small to really cause a ripple. But each of us has a small brand or two that we adore. Sometimes they are the only company in the world producing a particular item. Some of these business owners foolishly decide to abandon quality retail to sell on Amazon where they can build short term revenues. It’s a deal with the devil. Amazon recruits a sea of Chinese counterfeiters who aggressively muddy the waters between real and fake. Amazon wins all the Google searches and sales for the fake products because they are priced lower than the real products available on other sites and at retail. The counterfeiters make a quick buck. The cheap products fail and no one blames Amazon–because the customers think they got the real deal. There goes the little (and sometimes big) American business with the quality product. Amazon just moves on to the next unsuspecting small company with an innovative product.
As we lose quality retailers we cut off the supply of future Ibex’s. As much as Grommet can help these little companies, we can’t get to them all and specialty retail really matters. Ibex mattered.
Jules Pieri 
14 Responses to “Amazon killed Ibex”
Ibex failed because of the poor durability of merino wool products. Both Patagonia and Smartwool recognized this issue and started wrapping merino wool fiber around a nylon core. Ibex instituted the same weave but did it too late to save the company.
Do you have internal data about that? I do know what you are referring to…as a customer. The retail dynamics are what the company and journalists cited.
I disagree. I found Ibex merino wool products to be of excellent quality. I unfortunately also ran into the Chinese counterfeit scam on Amazon. It was very difficult to deal with the issue and I agree with this article, Amazon takes no accountability. Subsequent to my order, there were multiple other complaints about counterfeit products as well. Sad to see Ibex go.
Thanks for sharing your experiences here Shane. These are complex issues and at the end of the day we are all poorer for the loss of Ibex. I stand by my conclusion that their issues were more external than internal.
As my treasured Ibex pieces wear a bit, I found your post and thank you for writing it. Ibex mattered a lot to me.
Your simple statement “Ibex mattered a lot to me.” I don’t think people know what they have until it is gone–and it sounds like you are an exception. As Amazon marches through overtaking so many products by either killing them or converting them to private label, we are losing so much. We are losing: jobs with dignity and a living wage (not just shipping boxes at minimum wage), true product innovation, a social conscience about business , and quality are the first losses. We are all victims.
Just bought some Ibex gear from Vermont Gear. Yeah!
I have to say I miss the company but the demise was self inflicted in my experience.
1) Quality was inconsistent. Like the posting above, I saw some gear fray away in the wash. My first Indie Hoody is still going strong after 6 years. The ones I bought two years latter have patches on them. Wrapping the merino around nylon is the way to go for the lighter weight fabric.
2) They did not really invest their cycling line. They would bring out a product and then it was never available on the web site.
3) Each season they brought out too many new women’s town wear that did not sell. How do I know? The end of the year sales were mostly the women’s garments that they brought out at the beginning of the year.
4) Wool stuffed puffy insulation???
5) Expanded too rapidly into retail stores. That is the way to burn cash fast.
6) And they probably borrowed money for the retail expansion, which is a way to burn cash to the power of 2
7) All this being said, if the new company ever brings out a Shak pullover, I will get one.
I am wearing an Ibex Loden jacket as I write this, the only comparable jacket for warmth and fit, would be a very expensive Dale of Norway wind barrier sweater. The synthetic fill jackets are not at the level of wool and never will be. Try sleeping under a good merino blanket (from Ibex) versus a high end synthetic bag from one of the premium companies. The wool blanket is better for comfort and warmer to boot.
Give me wool, and only wool. 100% wool. Pullovers, cycling jersey, my favorite lounge pants, five V-necks, two big tee shirts, eight baselayer tee-shirts, and at least a dozen long-sleeved zip-neck shirts of varying weights, I wear an Ibex item every day of the year. What great products which I mistreat and beat up all the time, with very little consequence after too many years. The primary reason I refuse to buy Patagonia anymore is because they chose to water-down their wool with a nylon core-wrap. Whoever made that decision needs to be fired, and the posters who think this is why Ibex failed needs to check that vacuous chasm between their ears. I hope this company resurrects itself, and I’ll be stocking up all over again.
You and me both Lance. Thanks for checking in with your (extensive) Ibex experience.
I just found out today that Ibex had closed!
I too found the garments very comfortable and long lasting.
I tried to contact them for info on repairing a small snag hole. In the old days a drop of clear nail polish or maybe the UV activated acrylic “glue” as a more modern method. I have found in repairing fabrics with a hard glue that the fabric wears out at the edge of the glue. Perhaps the rubber fabric repair would be a better way to go. Any suggestions?
I also had the utmost respect, admiration and attachment to these products and wish, and will support, any return to the market of these products.
Hey David,
Good news, Ibex is being revived and their Facebook page is just getting going. You might be able to get an answer to this question there…https://www.facebook.com/groups/IbexInsiders/
I agree with you Lance and Estefan. I also have the Loden jacket and vest. Some of the best kit I own…and not watered down like the other brands. It is more expensive, and in my opinion, worth it. This whole wrap it over nylon thing is a dilution for the masses. Those who know wool and will care for it want the real thing. I recently received a message that Ibex is ready to relaunch. I can’t wait to see what they bring forward.
JEB
JE–Hope the rumor/message is true.