So, it turns out that The North Face is almost as eco-friendly as Patagonia, but they just don’t talk about it as much – at least, according to a new feature from Glossy.
Over the past few years, the article explains, The North Face has quietly “rolled out a number of new sustainable efforts” including switching the materials for its jackets to recycled synthetics and working with raw material suppliers to help them “reduce carbon emissions at the ranching stage of production.”
Now, however, as a “play to stay ahead of… Patagonia,” they’ve decided to get loud about their “sustainable credentials” by investing in “a combination of digital and physical marketing, like Instagram ads, content partnerships with National Geographic and retail installations with REI that highlight the materials and processes the company uses.”
They’ve also debuted an entire collection — dubbed ThermoBall Eco — in which every product incorporated recycled synthetics, disposing of 3.6 million plastic bottles in the process, and they’ve sold over 14,000 one-of-a-kind upcycled pieces that are made with “unwanted, unsold or damaged goods” as part of their RENEWED line.
“Larger scale equals larger impact,” global design director, Eunice Lee (yes, that Eunice Lee), said. “Large companies like us can affect so much. Things have changed quite a bit. It took 20 years for something like organic cotton to become common and not just this niche thing. But we don’t have another two decades to wait around for this stuff to happen.”
You can read more about it at Glossy.
