The North Face

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

A couple of years ago, my friend from L.A. who moved to Seattle to work at an ad firm was making fun of everybody in Seattle for wearing, what he thought -- and you may agree, was clothing with a logo he considers the worst designed and most bland logo everywhere, and how it's "so Seattle"

Having just been to NYC, the city my friend said The North Face wouldn't survive in, I saw not hoardes but a good amount of The North Face wearers all over town.

I wonder how he feels now... he has this weird obsession against The North Face, and now it's chased him across the coast to what he considers the last bastion of good fashion sense.

http://www.iw3ifb.it/VARIE/the%20north%20face%20800x600.jpg

Well, imho, I guess it is kinda dopey looking, even if it's just meant to be a camping gear/wear logo. Half an uncolored rainbow and three words for each ring. It's slightly less dopey than the Hilfiger logo...

Anyway, it came up in conversation with two other separate friends of mine here, so I thought I'd open it to the, uh, fashion conscious masses here on ILE.

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:06 (twenty years ago)

North face logo is likely not a rainbow, bro

http://www.twelveoaksmarketplace.com/12oaksmarketplace/images/images%20warsinger%20photos/HalfDome_Full_Moon_Night1.GIF

― Jimmy Mod: THE HANDLESS ORGANIST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:10 (twenty years ago)

Haha, I'm hooking up Jimmy with my friend right now... :D

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:11 (twenty years ago)

Oh, please don't.

― Jimmy Mod: THE HANDLESS ORGANIST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:14 (twenty years ago)

8pm at Saint's Alp. Yer getting free tea eggs out of this.

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:16 (twenty years ago)

― Jimmy Mod: THE HANDLESS ORGANIST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:22 (twenty years ago)

Uh... The North Face just turned 40 years old.

Strange how something from SF could be considered "So Seattle" (oh wait, Starbucks ripped off Peet's and Microsoft ripped of Apple, &c. &c.).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:26 (twenty years ago)

jimmy mod = bro.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:28 (twenty years ago)

Don't look at me! I just help people hook up here!

― dottie nuttie dach nach dtnt hhhhhhhh (donut), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:34 (twenty years ago)

The moral of the story:

Do not trust Los Angelenos' forecasting trends of cold-weather clothing brands.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:36 (twenty years ago)

Do not trust Los Angelenos

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:38 (twenty years ago)

it is so not the worst designed and most bland logo anywhere (that goes to the new burger king). it isn't that adventurous or flexible but i appreciate its modernism. i also appreciate the way that the inner band is thinner than the outer two helping to balance the composition. i would say it's actually very skillful, if unimaginative.

― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:57 (twenty years ago)

well, whether he was right or not, obviously he didn't foresee the hiphop-oriented rebranding

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 28 July 2006 01:00 (twenty years ago)

ugh, "outdoorsy" types (which does seem very Seattle to me, but a lot of these types do move to NYC for dickass things like working for big law firms, wall street etc.) in other words, not something the typical native new yorker would wear.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 28 July 2006 01:59 (twenty years ago)

haha

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 28 July 2006 02:03 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ithrewup.com/bingepurge/images/pop/heyfuckface.jpg

i always get a slight chuckle when i see someone sporting this patch.

― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Friday, 28 July 2006 03:25 (twenty years ago)

that's on the same plane as this shit: I AM WEARING AN IRONIC T SHIRT

― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Friday, 28 July 2006 03:31 (twenty years ago)

Strange how something from SF could be considered "So Seattle" (oh wait, Starbucks ripped off Peet's and Microsoft ripped of Apple, &c. &c.).

It's all the Pacific Northwest. Outdoorsiness is huge there. As are beards.

― naus (Robert T), Friday, 28 July 2006 04:45 (twenty years ago)

I noticed this in April in NYC - over here it's been quite a decent label - good coats and stuff but never the highest of fashion but always very practical and hardwearing. In April they're absolutely everywhere and more expensive than in the UK too, not the first label that I thought would take the city by storm I have to say.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Friday, 28 July 2006 05:47 (twenty years ago)

this was big in Ann Arbor, too. Lotsa frat/sorority/rich kid-types would get all decked out in this overpriced shit. This was going on by the mid-90s or earlier.

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 28 July 2006 05:53 (twenty years ago)

Geeze... I had a lot of North Face stuff in the 80s - when I was actually camping/backpacking a lot. When the hell did it become a marketing icon?

I still love the 70s-era logo though, reminds me a lot of the old AT&T "death star" logo.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 28 July 2006 06:55 (twenty years ago)

http://media.drjays.com/dj-includes/images/central/men/thenorthface_main.jpg

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 28 July 2006 08:16 (twenty years ago)

http://www.hhv.de/images/cover5/46311.jpg

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 28 July 2006 08:16 (twenty years ago)

dr jays in brooklyn has racks full of north face gear

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 28 July 2006 08:20 (twenty years ago)

but probably less and less these days

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 28 July 2006 08:24 (twenty years ago)

I ran a street fashion item on my blog today and wanted to put this man in it:

but decided not to because of the North Face logo behind him. It ruined the ambience.

― Momus (Momus), Friday, 28 July 2006 08:28 (twenty years ago)

you're censoring the truth man

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 28 July 2006 11:17 (twenty years ago)

In the '80s, there was definitely more TNF in Seattle than NYC, but I remember it seeming not quite outdoorsy-enough to me. Boutique v. Coop (REI).

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 28 July 2006 11:51 (twenty years ago)

MEC represent

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Friday, 28 July 2006 11:58 (twenty years ago)

i am still waking up, so maybe that is why i'm liking the west coast irony t-shirt, right? i'd put a sticker of it on a water bottle.

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Friday, 28 July 2006 12:00 (twenty years ago)

logo-wise, I prefer...

http://www.alpineascents.com/graphics/logos/moonstone-logo.jpg http://www.buitensporters.nl/logo2/Lowe%20Alpine.jpg

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 28 July 2006 12:04 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.