The North Face: Overrated?

Have you considered going back to one of these ?

They were great

They certainly were, in fact in some areas of the country it looked like we'd been invaded by West Germany.

Quite heavy then 🤣

Could never get the obsession some have with North Face.

French Connection/FCUK and Diesel make far superior winter jackets… stylistically and quality…next time if you are in a shop the sells both, compare…

Northface is an ‘activewear’ fashion brand now primarily… they use tag words like ‘activewear’ in their marketing.. you are correct was originally a sports brand for outdoor pursuits.

Gross, remember them? Preferred coat of the sartorially challenged. Usually accompanied by a “band T-shirt”, scraggly beard, unkempt curly hair and converse runners.

Thankfully, you don’t encounter those “types” very often these days but I’m sure if you were to visit some of the mustier record shops in places like the George’s Arcade you’d be sure to see one, albeit a little greyer and a lot wider, perusing the secondhand vinyl section.

I like RAB and Norrøna and old Karrimor.

The poor man's Canada Goose.

I've a North Face jacket that's about 20 years old at this stage. Still going strong. Waterproof, breathable, comfortable. I've worn it on all kinds of hillwalking and out on boats, and it's served me well. It has a standalone fleece that you can remove, or zip it into the jacket as an integrated lining. My wife picked up a kids NF coat in a charity shop for my daughter recently (cost her a tenner). It obviously isn't as robust or durable, so there must be a variation across their range.

Incidentally, I'm doing some work at the moment for a outdoor-wear competitor of The North Face. I was on a video call with their team a few weeks ago, and their project manager was wearing a North Face puffer jacket on it. We mentioned it in passing, and he said that he'll wear his own company's stuff when they start giving it to him for free.

I've a yellow North Face waterproof parka, and it's great. It really is the most waterproof jacket I have, and it's thin so perfect for spring or even summer days when it is wet but not that cold.

I do see every single teenage boy wearing some kind of black or grey NF coat, usually the puffa style.

The shop on Grafton Street is decent, they've good outdoor gear, hats etc.

As for those German army jackets, I never had one back in the day but plenty of the guys in school wore them. Can you even get them? Been a long time since I went up to Mary Street to look in Army Bargains!

Canada Goose is something I don’t get the obsession with, I wouldn’t buy one of those hideous jackets even if I saw them at Penney’s prices. Then again, young fellas these days aren’t exactly beacons of style or taste, all clones of each other.

It's more middle class boring dad gear now, usually black or navy.

Your life is half over, dreams of conquering Everest gone, the most extreme thing you do is wheel a stroller in your identikit NF jacket. :D