VF Corp.

Nicole Otto has been named global brand president of The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor LLC .The 16-year Nike veteran succeeds Steve Murray, who is retiring and returning to the U.K. The appointment is effective in June.
Otto will report to Steve Rendle, VF Corp.’s chairman, chief executive officer and president, and will serve on VF’s executive leadership team.
Most recently, Otto was vice president of Nike Direct North America. In that role, which she held from 2018 through May 2021, she oversaw Nike’s digital experiences and full fleet of inline and factory stores throughout the North American region. Under her leadership, Nike launched new flagship and Nike Live experiences in New York City and Los Angeles and started its expansion of owned retail across the U.S.

“Nicole is the right leader who brings the right capabilities to The North Face brand at the right time,” Rendle said. “Her global industry experience and deep understanding of consumer engagement strategies — through both physical retail and digital commerce — make her ideally suited to take the helm of this iconic brand and accelerate growth through even more compelling direct connections with consumers worldwide. Nicole is a proven innovator and future-focused leader who will further strengthen The North Face brand’s exceptional global executive team. We’re excited to welcome her to the VF family.”

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At Nike, Otto was also a key architect of the company’s digital consumer-facing technology platforms over the past 10 years. Before joining Nike’s North America team, she held several regional and global leadership roles within the company’s digital business. She was vice president and general manager of digital commerce in EMEA, during which time she led the launch of the Nike app and the Snkrs app. Earlier, she was vice president and general manager of nike.com global store, vice president of global digital commerce operations and vice president of consumer digital tech. She began her career at Nike in 2005 after working in information technology at Charles Schwab in San Francisco.
“Few brands in the world have earned truly iconic status like The North Face and I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the brand at this time,” Otto said. “I look forward to working closely with The North Face leadership team in addition to VF leadership to drive the next phase of growth for this beloved global brand and all that it represents.”
Otto’s appointment is part of VF’s succession plan in response to Murray’s planned retirement this year. He was appointed global brand president of The North Face in September 2020. Earlier, he served as executive vice president and group president for VF’s Americas region and previously was president of VF’s Action Sports Coalition and global brand president of Vans.
“We appointed Steve to lead The North Face brand knowing that his retirement was on the horizon but also recognizing that we could leverage his incredible 30-plus years of industry experience to strengthen the brand’s proposition with consumers,” Rendle said. “During his tenure, Steve further enhanced the brand’s outdoor credentials; turbo charged its apparel, accessories and equipment product engines; introduced innovative technologies such as FutureLight, built a successful footwear business and refined its channel and segmentation strategies, among many other accomplishments. Steve will leave The North Face brand in an incredibly strong position for Nicole to build on as she advances our direct-to-consumer and digital transformation.”

NorthFace continues to be on the move. As reported last month, the latest assortment from The North Face x Gucci collaboration features jackets, ready-to-wear, backpacks, bomber jackets, vests, hiking boots, luggage and shoes for women and men. This month, pop-up shops will open in select winter cities. From Jan. 11 through Jan. 25, there will be outposts in Aspen, Colo., Chicago and Toronto.

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Did fashion shift diversity efforts to the side in the last year? Certainly its fading from the headlines doesn’t mean the industry’s issues with racism dematerialized. And in 2022, companies will have to get better at keeping the spinning plates of each letter in DE&I steadily spinning.As 2021 progressed it appeared the diversity conversation waned — though the industry is split on whether action waned in tandem.
If one asks individual companies, quite a bit of progress was made on DE&I in 2021. It was a “quieter but no less important” period, according to Lauren Guthrie, vice president of global inclusion, diversity and action at VF Corp. (the company shifted the department name this year to further hold itself accountable to the action portion of the diversity conversation).

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“Honestly, for us it’s been a matter of heads down — certainly things to celebrate but also opportunities to rethink and reassess and triage a bit differently than some of the most critical conversations last year that really were responding to a societal fire alarm and recognition moment that more was necessary,” she said.
But ask those with a bit more of a bird’s-eye view and there were holes in fashion’s diversity efforts last year.
“I don’t know that [efforts] waned in the sense that they diminished, but they definitely felt a bit lazy in a sense that it felt like everyone was doing the same thing,” CaSandra Diggs, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, told WWD. “And not that you can’t have more than one person or one group approaching a challenge, but I think this industry fails to be as collaborative as they can when solving for these big issues.”
The year held a lot of promises and updated corporate social responsibility reports, with companies reiterating their commitments and revealing, in just some cases, a nominal uptick in representation numbers. More brands and businesses joined Aurora James’ 15 Percent Pledge (the project claims it has been able to shift nearly $10 billion of revenue to Black-owned businesses), for example, and chief diversity officers rolled out more corporate efforts at progress. Some businesses kept their efforts (or lack thereof) in obscurity. Several still figuratively stepped in it with things like a sweats-boxer combo that appropriated hip-hop culture or reaching claims of being the first streetwear designer.
Still, when it came to representation, particularly as it relates to designers and industry leaders of color, recognition wasn’t spread widely enough.
“I kept seeing the same voices, the same people getting recognition, getting grants, getting interviewed, being included in conversation,” Diggs said. “Through my role as president, I’ve met so many other talented people in the industry that deserve the opportunity, the visibility and they’re so intelligent and so strategic and there are a lot of great solutions in those conversations and they need to be heard on a more global level.”
The year was a mixed bag of progress and stagnation at best, regression at worst — so where did fashion end up?
“I think 2021 and a portion of 2020 was actually fashion’s first steps, so I think while they’re not closer to diversity, equity and inclusion, the roadmap to it is getting clearer,” Diggs said. “Many of us are now understanding a lot of the variables that need to be addressed to get to equity but we’re not closer to it. We’ve just begun first steps.”

The Black in Fashion Council, which released its first report in collaboration with the Human Rights Campaign at the end of September, found fashion (at least according to the 30 stakeholders who participated in the survey) “still unmistakably devoid of Black representation” in 2021.
“Diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry are very much still a work in progress” BIFC co-founders Lindsay Peoples Wagner and Sandrine Charles said in a joint statement to WWD. “We’re excited to be a pivotal part of this work because we’ve been part of this work long before it became a trend and understand that it’s going to take a while for infrastructures and systems to change. But it’s been encouraging to see real commitment from people and brands, and we’re hopeful that people will continue to be part of this movement and not just in it for the moments.”
For Diggs, real commitment from people and brands where diversity was concerned this year looked like transparency around representation numbers, contributing to organizations led by people of color and true — not performed — allyship. (“Allyship,” she said, “can’t look like guilt, allyship can’t look like resentment, allyship has to be unconditional.”)
But companies, according to Diggs, were still “proceeding with way too much caution” in 2021.
“[Companies] need to raise the amount of risk that they take in terms of engaging with Black and BIPOC professionals and investing in those entrepreneurs, they need to increase that level,” she said. “They need to stop being so risk averse in that area.”
What to Watch in DE&I in 2022
The movement to bring fashion into better alignment with the makeup of the global consumer, at least for those really committed to it, has shifted a bit to a focus on the “E” of DE&I, which companies may be giving greater attention to in 2022 — though they’ll have to do it without leaving the “D” and “I” behind.
The shift to equity, according to Guthrie, makes sense at this stage in the road to progress.
“I think it’s a natural part of a maturity curve to be honest,” she said. “I think the focus on diversity is a more comfortable place for organizations to start, there’s an inherent feedback loop from the data perspective, it’s measurable, it’s easier in some ways to wrap your arms around and I think across industry there’s more and more support for that to become an achievable goal within organizations.

“From a VF perspective, we really evolved our strategy last year with our launch of our council to advance racial equity, which was the first time that we used equity with great intentionality as part of our strategy and a focus area. For us it’s just meant a maturing beyond but in spite of that energy to drive diversity,” Guthrie added.
Equity, though most grasp its literal definition as fairness or justice in the way people are treated (per Merriam-Webster), is something many companies are still working to understand, at least as it pertains to really putting it into practice.
“The way I define equity is really looking at the systemic processes and ways of working and where bias or discrimination can live within those internally as well as externally,” said Guthrie, whose team has doubled in size in the past year as VF works to build DE&I into the core of its values. “Equity really starts with one person at a time, one conversation at a time, one process at a time and it’s ongoing. There is no finish line particularly when we start talking about equity, it’s just the focus areas change and evolve.”
At Ralph Lauren, a spokesperson said “equity continues to be the goal,” though efforts to improve representation won’t fall by the wayside. The company has committed to ensure that by 2023, 20 percent of its global leadership are people from “underrepresented racial groups.”
“We know diversity, equity and inclusion are distinct, and require unique strategies and programs, but we believe all elements must work in sync to drive progress,” the spokesperson said.
DE&I efforts could be considered a bit like marriage when it comes to commitment to sustain them. Focusing on one part alone and leaving another on the backburner doesn’t work. Nor does diminished effort suffice when things get difficult or the path forward isn’t clear.
“I think that we’ve dealt with diversity more than anything. I think the inclusion and the equity piece are the two pieces that need more attention,” CFDA’s Diggs said. “I think for most people, equity looks like diversity: We’ve invited them into the room, we’ve sat them at the table. But that’s not what equity is. If we were more equitable they would have a voice, they would have more autonomy, they would control of P&L, they would be able to make more decisions. You have to empower them. You can’t just invite them to the table, they have to feel safe in that environment to be able to contribute to that environment.”

That’s what Levi Strauss & Co. is trying to do with its DE&I efforts — and the company’s chief diversity, inclusion and belonging officer Elizabeth A. Morrison said efforts haven’t gotten lazy at all.
“I don’t agree that it’s gotten slow, I agree that we’re now going deep and we’re going to work. So there’s not black squares on Instagram because we’re building and launching programs, we’re running data, we’re looking at data to shape programs and strategy,” she said. “This is the real work of diversity, equity and inclusion. And while there might not be this really loud, worldwide movement demanding change, now you have the teams and the practitioners that are really behind the scenes working with executives and leaders and employees and teaching them the how.”
At Levi’s, reorganizations this year brought HR communications under the DE&I umbrella and Morrison’s remit, a move — if undertaken more broadly across the industry — that could minimize the diversity-related PR nightmares that make companies exactly the kind of risk averse that is hindering their progress. Morrison also recently sat in a two-day talent summit where the company discussed top leadership and how they’ll grow and retain that talent, marking, she said, “one of the first times that a diversity practitioner has had a seat at that table.”
“I was able to, number one, upfront talk to the group about how bias shows up in performance evaluation and actually be an active participant in the conversation if and when I felt there was bias or people weren’t using firm examples and evidence versus opinion,” she said.
Heading into 2022, Levi’s DE&I team will also be partnering “very closely” with the company’s vice president of talent to evolve training across existing talent and to do an “equity review” of its current talent processes to ensure there’s no built-in or residual bias. It’s also putting a focus on development, with plans to launch career growth and development programs for women and employees of color.
“We have to keep challenging ourselves and just staffing up and launching a few programs isn’t going to do it. We need true partnerships with the business, true partnerships between diversity, human resources, the talent teams, the business leaders,” Morrison said. “In DE&I several things are and need to be true at the same time. There’s never really a point where you can stop focusing on diversity and start focusing on equity.”

There’s no perfect read on this extraordinary moment in retail history — but Walmart Inc., Target Corp., Ralph Lauren Corp., VF Corp. and Macy’s Inc. together gave a kind of synopsis of the situation in the U.S. with their quarterly updates last week.
The pandemic is waning in the U.S. and Europe as vaccinations rise, consumers are coming back out (buying dresses, but staying casual) and the start of the new normal could be here after more than a year of hibernation. 
Many companies went bust in the pandemic, but the strongest players did their best to position themselves to try to catch the boom afterward — and now they’re starting to go for it. 
It’s an uncertain mad scramble for what’s next, with fingers crossed that some new COVID-19 variant doesn’t slow it all back down. 

Here, a look at what the industry learned last week as some of the biggest U.S. players opened their books and started talking more about the future now that they’re on firmer ground. 
Cash Is Still King
Amid the human tragedy of the coronavirus was a downright financial emergency — and it was the chief financial officers who had to act. They stepped in to cut costs and started storing up cash, while many also moved to cut their debt. Some companies have let loose of the purse strings — VF Corp. made its move to snap up Supreme in a $2.1 billion deal. But many are still sitting on a pile of cash that could be put to work as the industry continues its fast-forward transformation.

The fashion COVID-19 playbook generally called for squirreling away cash and cutting debt.

Date
Cash, Short-term Investments
(in billions)

One-year Change
Total Debt
(in billions)

One-year Change

TJX Cos. Inc.
5/1/21
$8.8
104.7%
$14.8
-10.1%

Target Corp.
5/1/21
$7.8
70.5%
$15.2
-8.7%

Walmart Inc.
4/30/21
$22.8
53.0%
$62.8
-18.0%

Ralph Lauren Corp.
3/27/21
$2.8
31.2%
$3.6
12.2%

Macy’s Inc.
5/1/21
$1.8
18.1%
$8.0
-6.6%

VF Corp.
3/31/21
$1.4
3.3%
$7.0
33.5%

Kohl’s Corp.
5/1/21
$1.6
-21.1%
$6.3
-18.4%

Source: S&P Capital IQ

Leaner and Meaner Leads
The crisis focused the corporate mind and many business models. The mantra for the strongest in 2020 was centered on coming out of the pandemic even stronger. That translated into efforts to cut costs, stores, real estate and focusing in on a company’s strengths. 
Ralph Lauren Corp. took over $700 million in sales out of its business last year as it shifted Chaps to a licensed model, agreed to sell Club Monaco, left more than 200 U.S. department stores, cut its off-price business and moved to reduce daigou sales. 
That has freed the company to build on its namesake brand and move prices higher — average unit retail prices at the company rose 26 percent last year and are on a four-year tear. 
“We view our brand as bigger than our business,” said Patrice Louvet, president and chief executive officer, who is especially pumped up about bringing 4 million new customers into the company’s direct-to-consumer network last year.  “Typically these new consumers are higher-basket size, higher profits from a gross margin standpoint and younger, so really an exciting profile,” he said. 
Party Hearty Ahead 
Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, said customers are ready to get out and spend — and keep spending. 
“You’ve got customers with very low credit card balances, lots of open to spend, and to varying degrees they’ve been cooped up over the last year,” he said. 

“This will be a gigantic gift holiday. We are approaching it that way,” Gennette said, projecting strong demand in fragrance, fine jewelry, boots, handbags and home categories. 
And New Year’s celebrations? The CEO is looking for them to “be at a whole other level.”
Keeping Habits 
As the world opens back up, most expect consumers to change again, rolling into the future instead of reverting back to where they were in early 2020. But as shoppers evolve, they are starting from an outlook that’s been shaped by a year spent closer to home for many. 
Michelle Gass, CEO of Kohl’s, said: “Consumers will continue to live more actively and casually as normalcy returns. As more people return to work, resume travel and attend events and gatherings, they are seeking out new and updated apparel while maintaining the preference for casual comfort, which fits squarely into the product categories we are taking a leadership position in. Against this backdrop, Kohl’s is positioned really well.”
Staying Essential 
While much of the industry was put on its back foot by the COVID-19 lockdowns, the broad line giants — especially Walmart and Target — were able to stay open and curry favor with shoppers as they doled out groceries and other essential items. And as the world has opened back up, they seem to be benefitting from the momentum.
Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target Corp., said, “Market-share gains of more than $1 billion in the first quarter, on top of $1 billion in share gains a year ago, demonstrate Target’s continued relevance with our guests, even as they have many more shopping options compared with a year ago. Our performance in the first quarter was outstanding on every measure and showcased the power of putting our stores at the center of our strategy.” The mass merchant used stores to fulfill the majority of its online orders. 
Stores Star
After a year of amped-up growth of e-commerce, retailers are able to again accentuate their brick-and-mortar operations. For T.J. Maxx and Marshalls parent The TJX Cos. Inc., which is still heavily dependent on stores, that’s especially good news. 
“Our treasure-hunt shopping experience, eclectic mix of merchandise, and great brands and values continue to resonate with shoppers across our geographies,” said Ernie Herrman, chief executive officer and president. “While the environment remains uncertain, particularly internationally, we are convinced we are strongly positioned as we emerge from this health crisis.”

And offprice leader TJX said it’s not done building boxes. “We see a significant opportunity to grow our global store base at each of our divisions,” Herrman said. “In total, we believe we can open more than 1,600 additional stores to grow to about 6,275 stores in the long term just with our current banners and our current countries. Availability of real estate is terrific, and we see plenty of opportunities to open new stores or relocate existing stores.”
Techier Still
Fashion has spent the last year leaning into technology more than ever (and out necessity). The trend shows no sign of slowing down on either the consumer side of the business or the supply chain.
Steve Rendle, chairman, president and CEO of Vans and Supreme parent VF Corp., said: “We’ve been actively working to accelerate our hyper digital journey in fiscal ’21 with continued focus on a central consumer data platform that’s accessible to our brands and that enables them to understand consumers more deeply and to engage them in more meaningful and personal ways. And we leverage new technologies and processes to further digitize our go-to-market approach with advancements in 3D design and development, virtual product reviews and digital printing capabilities that shorten production calendars and accelerate our ability to flow newness and innovation.”
Not Over Yet
For the biggest of the big, operating with truly global scale, COVID-19 remains a real and present danger. 
Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, said: “The past several weeks have been more challenging in some countries. India, Canada, Chile and South Africa are priorities at the moment. Supporting our associates is our primary focus, but we’re also investing our resources to support the countries as we find opportunities to do so. In India, we’re donating oxygen concentrators, PPE and financial support.”
But through it all, Walmart has been able to press its advantages and expand. “We saw an acceleration of traffic in our stores, gained market share in grocery, improved in-stock levels and grew e-commerce sales globally by 43 percent in constant currency, excluding recent divestitures,” McMillon said in his update to Wall Street. “Global e-commerce penetration now represents over 12 percent of total company sales, an increase of 340 basis points over last year.”
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Tapestry Inc. is committing to the Black in Fashion Council’s Active Allyship Pledge.
By supporting this initiative, the company joins other members that are uniting to ensure the advancements of Black individuals in the fashion and beauty industry. More than 100 brands are on board with the program. With Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman under its umbrella, Tapestry is helping to widen the reach.
While many companies have vowed to try to improve diversity within their organizations, some are focusing on representation at the C-suite level and others are zeroing in on recruitment, internships and mentorships. There are also plans by some companies to try to improve all of those components.

As part of its three-year commitment, the Tapestry team will work with the BIFC executive board members, who will provide feedback, insight and counsel.
In honor of Black History Month and the announcement of the partnership, Tapestry is hosting a special edition of its “Unscripted” talk series with the council’s cofounders, Lindsay Peoples-Wagner and Sandrine Charles.
Other companies have been rolling out their diversity-focused initiatives, projections for improvement and commemorative merchandise in honor of Black History Month. The VF Corp. unveiled a comprehensive plan to advance racial equity within its organization and beyond. With brands like Supreme, Vans, The North Face and Timberland, VF is building upon its Council to Advance Racial Equity with new programs, community partners and public policy initiatives. Tommy Hilfiger also recently mapped out its efforts to advance underrepresented communities in fashion through several partnerships with its People’s Place Program.
Lauding the new alliance with the BIFC, Tapestry’s chief executive officer Joanne Crevoiserat said in a statement, “We have committed to expanding diversity in our Tapestry and brand leadership teams. Working with the council will help us to build upon the progress that we have made in achieving these goals.”

Given the magnitude of plastic packaging waste in the fashion industry, VF Corp., whose brands include The North Face, Timberland, Vans, Icebreakers, Dickies,  and Supreme, has set an ambitious goal to eliminate all single-use plastic packaging, including poly bags, by 2025.
All remaining non-plastic packaging used by VF and its brands will be reduced, originate from sustainable sources and be designed for reuse or recyclability, according to the company.
“With a portfolio comprising some of the world’s most iconic apparel and footwear brands, we recognize we play an important role as environmental stewards and can serve as a catalyst for industry movements that drive positive change,” said Jeannie Renné-Malone, vice president of global sustainability for VF. “Our new global packaging goals are an example of how we can leverage our scale for significant impact. In just one year, we could potentially eliminate as many as 100 million poly bags from our packaging waste.”

In addition, VF’s sustainability goals include that all single-use plastics in product packaging will be 100 percent recycled, bio-based content or a combination of the two by 2023; all paper-based packaging will be recycled content (minimum 80 percent, where performance allows), third-party certified virgin content or a combination of the two by 2023, and VF will commit to leadership in crucial industry coalitions and policy initiative to build circular packaging infrastructure that will enable its 2025 pledge.

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VF has been a long-standing participant of Canopy’s Pack4Good initiative, committing that its paper packaging doesn’t contain materials from Ancient and endangered Forests or other controversial sources and reduces overall forest fiber consumption for packaging.
VF has also committed to additional guidelines and sustainability goals that will support its new Sustainable Packaging initiative and commit to minimizing waste across the enterprise.
Among them are all nonessential, single-use plastics for which there is a viable product alternative that will be eliminated from VF’s offices, throughout its direct operations and from all company-sponsored events by 2023.
Further, all VF-owned distribution centers will be zero-waste by April 1, 2021. VF seeks to engage sustainability best practices at its internal and external sponsored events ad is committed to working with retailers and industry peers to support the development of collection platforms and recycling technology.
In addition, VF’s Icebreaker brand is determined to be plastic-free by 2023, removing synthetics from its entire product collection within three years. VF’s Timberland brand has set a vision for its products to have a net positive impact by 2030. By designing 100 percent of its products for circularity, the brand will work toward zero waste. By sourcing 100 percent of its natural materials through regenerative agriculture, The Timberland brand will contribute to its net positive impact on nature.
The North Face brand originally launched a Polybag Brigade recycling program with TerraCycle in 2011 and to date has recycled more than five million polybags.

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MILAN — In a confluence of geographic and temporal references, the North Face x Gucci collection celebrates the histories and heritage of both brands.
After three months, the two companies are unveiling the results of their collaboration, which was first teased in September.
To promote the new partnership, Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele conceived a campaign shot by Daniel Shea and set in the Alps, debuting on Dec. 22.
In stills and video, as well as through content created for TikTok, the images portray a group of hikers camping by lakes and enjoying an outdoors vacation. The photos have the quality of retro holiday snaps, with a Seventies mood.
The North Face was founded in 1966 in San Francisco, and the atmosphere of the campaign reflects the period when the company began its development from an outdoor retailer based in Berkeley, Calif., and shared a factory and storefront adjacent to Credence Clearwater Revival’s practice studio. The group’s iconic song “Bad Moon Rising,” written by John Fogerty, serves as the soundtrack throughout the video campaign.

The collection for men and women comprises ready-to-wear, soft accessories, luggage and shoes, but also tents and sleeping bags — a reference to the outdoors expertise of The North Face.
The rtw collection features not only goose-feather down padded coats, bombers and vests but also shirts, skirts and jumpsuits.

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Outerwear and equipment are based on original designs from The North Face in the Seventies.
An image from the campaign for The North Face x Gucci collection  courtesy image

Also included in the offer are quilted jackets, nylon shirts and skirts and Windbreakers; silk-twill bowling sets, skirts and chemise dresses; T-shirts; sweatshirts, and a fleece jacket.
There are several colorful floral prints created in partnership with The North Face and some bear a new The North Face x Gucci logo. This combined logo featuring The North Face’s three curved lines and Gucci’s signature green-red-green Web stripe is also displayed on a dedicated label.
There are eight new graphic patterns on the luggage, ranging from backpacks to belt bags.
The shoe is a gender-neutral hiking boot with a chunky and sturdy Goodyear-welted sole in three colors of leather — brown, black and cream.
Boots by The North Face x Gucci  courtesy image

The North Face x Gucci Collection is in line with the commitment of both brands to sustainability.
Luggage contains Econyl, a nylon fabric sourced from regenerated materials such as fish nets, carpets and other scraps.
The color palette was inspired by the Seventies and curated from The North Face materials library. Archival fabrics have been partially incorporated into the collection to give them a new life.
Packaging for the pieces comes in vibrant pink featuring The North Face x Gucci logo. The garment and carrier bags, boxes and pouches were designed to reduce the environmental impact. All paper and cardboard come from sustainably managed forest sources and an uncoated paper is fully recyclable. To reduce the amount of paper, boxes are equipped with handles to avoid using shopping bags. Larger items come in shopping bags and cotton covers without boxes.
The collection is expected to debut in a Gucci Pin pop-up store in Beijing on Dec. 29 and will then be rolled out in the rest of China. It will be available to other countries in the world in January. In the Gucci Pins, the special bright floral patterns of the range will be used to dress the spaces and take over the façades.

A limited selection of The North Face x Gucci pieces will also be available on gucci.com, with some online exclusives.
Celebrating the collection’s motifs, Gucci Artwalls will be unveiled in five cities — Hong-Kong, Shanghai, London, New York and Milan — and will feature dedicated imagery and incorporate The North Face x Gucci logo.
“It is a well acknowledged notion that travel leads to self-discovery, and in this conviction The North Face is aligned with Gucci, which similarly empowers people in their quest to celebrate and express their own characters and personalities, embedding Alessandro Michele’s approach toward fashion as a powerful instrument of freedom,” the company said.
This is the first time Gucci has worked on what could be a full-fledged collection with another brand since Michele’s arrival as creative director five years ago, although Gucci has teamed for collaborations with the likes of Liberty and Ken Scott, for example.
The North Face has been branching out beyond its signature Mountain jacket.
Over the last decade, the Denver-based outerwear label has expanded its reach from serious mountain explorers to fashion connoisseurs via partnerships with brands including Supreme, Junya Watanabe and Sacai. For its return to London Fashion Week, MM6 Maison Margiela in February unveiled a collaboration with The North Face based on its signature Expedition System pieces designed for extreme weather conditions.
The North Face is controlled by parent company, VF Corp.
An image from the campaign  courtesy image