Discover: How The North Face Became One of Fashion’s Most Ubiquitous Brands

While in today's world, a simple mention of The North Face holds weight in basically all of fashion's sub-sects, it wasn't always this way. Before the glitz and glamour of being a household brand name, The North Face was, at its core, an extremely successful mountaineering brand, with the lust for expansion to match.

Our story starts in 1966 as two hiking enthusiasts followed their passion and opened up a small retail store in San Francisco's North Beach neighbourhood. Named after the perilous and unrelenting side of a mountain, The North Face as a retailer specialised in high-performance mountaineering and trekking gear, all fueled by the boom of outdoor exploration in the late '60s.

By '68, The North Face founders Doug and Susie Tompkins had enough knowledge to start creating their own technical mountaineering apparel and equipment, and one could argue that's truly where the journey begins. Over the next decade, TNF garnered an expansive and loyal following due to its quality apparel, complete with an array of functional elements. By the turn of the '80s, The North Face was ready to take on its next challenge, and so the brand launched its vast selection of skiwear. In true '80s fashion, the majority of these ski pieces donned pastel and neon colours, offering a free-spirited approach to sports styling.

By the end of the '80s, The North Face was the only outdoor supplier in the US to offer outerwear, skiwear, sleeping bags, packs and tents. To put it simply, the brand was dominating the game. Its next milestone came in 1990 when TNF decided to cater for the modern sportsperson. As a result, the Tekwear collection was born, offering both style and function to rock climbers, hikers, backpackers, trail runners and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

Despite the brand's booming outdoor success, The North Face also found itself adopted by somewhat of an unlikely mass during the '90s. At a time when hip-hop was at its peak on the east coast, rappers would don TNF jackets, subsequently sparking a new wave of interest across New York City. Their silhouette of choice? The Nuptse.

The Nuptse was a boxy puffer jacket complete with oversized baffles and a stowable hood. Thanks to its weatherproof construction combined with its timeless style, the Nuptse became a firm favourite amongst inner-city youth, thus cementing its place in hip-hop history.

By the late '90s, it was said you couldn't go anywhere without seeing the brand's iconic Half Dome logo, which might have spurred on the TNF's next milestone. Taking note of the brand's success was VF Corporation, a US-based apparel company with a history of owning outdoor and lifestyle brands. Seeing the boom The North Face was undergoing, VF set out to acquire the brand for a staggering $25.4 million. In 2000, the deal went through, and as a result, The North Face became a wholly owned subsidiary.

While the deal secured the VF's ownership in a variety of territories, Japan wasn't one of them, and instead, an apparel conglomerate by the name of Goldwin had held those rights since 1978. Because of trademark licensing, Goldwin essentially had free reign to do what they liked with the brand in Japanese and South Korean territories, so they decided to launch a new line called The North Face Purple Label back in 2003.

Purple Label was the brainchild of Nanamica designer Eiichiro Homma, a man who had previously spent two decades on the design team for Japan's TNF & Helly Hansen chapters. Homma recognised a gap in the market for function performance wear with a heritage streetwear edge, so he set out to tweak some of the brand's most iconic silhouettes.

Technical mountaineering fabrics such as nylon and polyester were ditched under Homma's gaze, and instead, they were replaced with formal materials such as tweed, herringbone and plaid. In addition, as the name would suggest, The North Face's Half Dome logo was changed to sport a purple patch backdrop. Due to its territorial constraints, Purple Label earned the reputation of one of fashion's most elusive brands, with many of TNF's western audiences struggling to obtain the brand up until its brick-and-mortar release in 2019.

While many of the Supreme x The North Face's collaborations hold grail status within the streetwear scene in this modern era, no one could predict just how often the duo would cross paths over the years. In 2007, Supreme x The North Face joined forces for their first-ever outing, and as a result, the pair created a blueprint that would leave many consumers chomping at the bit to get these super limited products.

In just 15 years, the duo has collaborated 20+ times, with each collection combining classic TNF silhouettes such as the Nuptse, the Denali fleece, the Mountain Jacket and the Expedition pullover, all of which showcase Supreme's knack for overt and often in-your-face styling. Over the years, we've seen everything from fur puffers, world-map prints and even leopard prints, some of which have simply cemented their status as modern icons in the streetwear sphere.

In November 2020, TNF's owner VF Corporation announced it was purchasing Supreme for a staggering £2.1 Billion dollars. As a result, this move opened the duo up to a limitless future of collaboration, meaning we're likely to see the pair produce grails for years and years to come.

With a streetwear audience firmly in The North Face's grasp, the brand would then attempt to conquer the realms of high fashion in what many would consider an unlikely move. Towards the end of 2020, The North Face shocked global audiences as it collaborated with none other than Italian high-fashion house Gucci for a '70s-inspired link-up.

The collection itself featured a range of The North Face silhouettes, with each reimagined with floral motifs, psychedelic patterns and outlandish prints. With both womenswear and menswear on offer, the majority of the collab was made up of outerwear styles, complete with an array of tints and hues. Backing up the outerwear, we also saw a collection of tees, sweats, hoodies and accessories.

At the start of 2021, the duo would double down on their efforts and produce a second rendition with a fresh selection of '70s-inspired items available. This time around, a distinctive focus was placed upon accessories, with waist bags, water bottle holders, scarves and shoes all included. Due to the sheer magnitude of these collaborations, TNF x Gucci commanded the attention of the worldwide fashion press, arguably making one of the best debuts into high fashion of all time.

As it stands, The North Face arguably exists as one of the most ubiquitous brands in fashion, spanning across the outerwear, streetwear, high fashion and subcultural divides. With its current and ever-growing popularity, the brand has reached an almost unrivalled position in the industry, one that we can imagine won’t falter for years to come.

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