After around four years leading Icebreaker, Greg Smith has handed over the keys to
his office at the outdoor brand's HQ in Auckland, New Zealand. VF Corp, which has owned the company since 2017, announced the name of his successor on Thursday, revealing that Jan Van Mossevelde, who is currently general manager of the brand's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, is taking over as global brand president.
Smith leaves the company with a range of sustainability projects underway, including the target of going plastic free by 2023. He was also involved in the merino wool specialist's initiative to plant trees in California, where fires devastated hectares of forest.
Furthermore, last week, Icebreaker, Allbirds and Smartwool announced that they were teaming up with the New Zealand Merino Company to create ZQRX, a platform which aims to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of merino sheep farms. These commitments were among the final decisions made by Smith at the company, and will now come under the responsibility of Van Mossevelde.
Having joined VF in 2015, Van Mossevelde became GM of Icebreaker's EMEA region in 2019. With his latest transition, he leaves VF's office in Stabio, Switzerland, in order to work at Icebreaker's global HQ in New Zealand. He will report to Martino Scabbia Guerrini, president of VF's EMEA region.
Before coming to the American conglomerate, which also owns the Vans, Timberland and The North Face brands, as well as recent acquisition Supreme, Van Moosevelde spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble.
"We’re very excited to have Jan lead the Icebreaker brand globally. His deep knowledge of the brand and the VF enterprise has enabled him to successfully guide the brand’s vision and operations across Europe since its acquisition in 2017," said Scabbia Guerrini in a release.
Icebreaker was founded by Jeremy Moon in 1995. Today its products are sold at some 5,000 stores in 50 countries around the world.