The North Face

The North Face ( German: The northern flank ) is a company specializing in outdoor clothing U.S. company that mainly sells jackets, fleece products, shoes, tents and backpacks.

History

The company was founded in 1966 in San Francisco by Douglas Tompkins. Originally Tompkins had opened a shop for mountaineering equipment in North Beach in San Francisco. 1968 moved the store to the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay to Berkeley and began producing its own brand The North Face. The name plays with the association that in the northern hemisphere, the north face of a mountain is the hardest, most difficult to be managed. The company logo is inspired by the distinctive rock silhouette of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Tompkins sold the company in 1968 and began building the brand Esprit Holdings Limited. The current owner of The North Face is the U.S. apparel company VF Corporation.

The North Face is regarded as the world leader and global brand in outdoor clothing.

Corporate Responsibility

In November 2004, the Stiftung Warentest tested 14 functional jackets and questioned the company on your corporate responsibility. For The North Face has been found that there are " approaches" to produce the jackets fair, socially and ecologically incorrect.

In August 2012, the Stiftung Warentest published again a test of functional jackets. The CSR commitment this time was rated ' poor '.