The North Face Welcomes Earth Day with New Upcycled Collection

By
Martin Vilaboy
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In celebration of Earth Day, The North Face is launching the next evolution of its Renewed circular design and recommerce program with the Remade Collection, a range of “one-of-a-kind” upcycled garments. Following the brand’s first Renewed Design Residency – a workshop dedicated to training The North Face design team on the principles of sustainable design – Remade represents scaled learnings from the program and serves as the next step in The North Face’s more than 50-year commitment to environmental and social responsibility and creating products that last a lifetime, said the company.

Each Remade garment originates from returned, damaged or defective product that is then individually analyzed and repaired at The Renewal Workshop in Cascade Locks, Ore., with materials from other deconstructed products based on creative standards established by The North Face Design team. Garments are presented with varying amounts of reworking involved, making each garment unique while still maintaining the quality and performance standards expected from the brand. The Remade collection will be exclusively available on thenorthface.com/renewed beginning today on Earth Day, with prices ranging from $50 to $400, depending on the level of repair required and subjective repair type.

The North Face originally launched its Renewed collection of refurbished clothing remade to explore in June of 2018. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, every year 85 percent of textiles produced go to landfills including clothing, shoes, and gear. Through the Renewed program, TNF is looking to shift from a traditional, linear model to a circular model where people share, resell, repair and recycle clothing to keep them out of landfills and in the value chain. As a result of the The North Face Renewed, the company said it has diverted more than 200,000 pounds of clothing from landfills in less than one year.
Last year, TNF expanded the Renewed program by launching the Renewed Design Residency whereby, in partnership with The Renewal Workshop, it provides its designers an opportunity to attend a bi-annual, rotational residency program at The Renewal Workshop to learn the principles of circular design and implement them into future brand collections. The pilot workshop for the Renewed Design Residency was held in October 2019 and the official launch of the pieces that resulted will be held via an auction on February 5, 2020.
With the announcement of Remade and to continue the learnings from the Renewed Design Residency, The North Face Design Team also has put together an approachable Garment Repair How-To, below, to support consumers in their at-home repairing needs while they’re stuck inside.
  1. Cover with a sew-on or iron-on patch from the craft store. You could even try making your own patch using a double sided iron-on fusible webbing to create a temporary patch out of a fun scrap of fabric you have on hand. *Be careful though, most synthetic fabrics are sensitive to heat, so be sure to check your garment’s care label and the necessary iron settings for the patch so you don’t melt anything. It may be best to stick with sew-on patches on synthetic fabrics like fleeces or taffetas.
  2. Try some traditional Japanese sashiko mending stitches using embroidery thread and scrap fabric to patch holes. Tthis works great on jeans and bottom-weight fabrics.
  3. Get adventurous and try overdyeing a stained garment. Consider natural dying on the stovetop using kitchen scraps like onion skins, avocado pits, or turmeric. This works on natural fiber fabrics, like cotton tees.
  4. Order a roll of Velcro to have on hand. If snaps are damaged or break off, replace with a piece of Velcro that you can hand-sew or machine-sew in place.