The North Face is making a commitment to equal representation of women in all advertising,
social media and content in the Brands Move Mountains initiative.

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“We know better than anyone that there are plenty of women out there who are already accomplishing incredible, inspiring things every day. Yet women and girls don’t see themselves represented as ‘explorers.’ We had a simple theory that if women and girls see more role models in exploration, it will create more female role models for future generations.”
—  Tom Herbst, global VP marketing The North Face.


Move Mountains

For the brand’s first global women’s-focused campaign, the cornerstone of Move Mountains is celebrating stories of women who are pushing boundaries, including The North Face athletes alpinist Hilaree Nelson, climbing phenoms Ashima Shiraishi and Margo Hayes and ultrarunner and activist Fernanda Maciel, in a series of short films narrated by fellow role models who admire them. The North Face is also featuring women who are explorers beyond physical exploration.

Leveling The Playing Field

The North Face has partnered with Girl Scouts USA to support and create 12 outdoor adventure badges, with programs in mountaineering, climbing, backpacking, hiking and trail running.

“Girl Scouts has been blazing the trail for girls’ leadership in the outdoors for more than a century, and outdoor badges continue to be among the most popular category of badges our girls ask for. We are excited to partner with The North Face to help girls challenge themselves, learn about the natural world and continue the Girl Scout tradition of having life-changing outdoor experiences.” — Sylvia Acevedo, CEO, Girl Scouts USA.

A Renewed Focus

The North Face is also applying the spirit of Move Mountains to the company’s internal business—with an increased investment in women’s product design, focus on employee development and closure of the gender pay gap on the athlete team.

In the U.S., The North Face is expanding the Explore Fund Grants program to $750,000, with a new $250,000 grant program focused on enabling female exploration. This new annual grant program will honor Ann Krcik, who was a long-time leader at The North Face and one of the founders of the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition (now Camber Outdoors). The Explore Fund was founded in 2010 and has given $2.75 million to over 500 nonprofits in support of furthering outdoor exploration.

The company is also expanding women’s product offerings, beginning with bottoms, which the brand is reinventing through compression, core support and vision science. New styles and silhouettes will be available this month in-store and online.

The North Face will open two women-specific stores in 2018. The first, in Edina, MN, will focus on the brand’s running and training apparel. The second, in San Francisco, will carry all the entire women’s collection across all categories.

Photos and video courtesy The North Face