formance apparel, equipment, and footwear” (“The North Face Story”, n.d.) Like Patagonia, North Face is a member of the outdoor recreation industry, and they also create products for recreational activities such as, “training, running, hiking, climbing, skiing, and snowboarding” (Bloomberg, n.d.). The North Face’s mission is to, “provide the best gear for our athletes and the modern day explorer, support the preservation of the outdoors, and inspire a global movement of exploration” (“The North Face Story, n.d.).
The North Face has made an effort to reach consumers with intrigue in their campaign, “Never Stop Exploring”, which calls outdoor enthusiasts to fully immerse themselves in outdoor adventure (Patterson, 2011). North Face has dedicated a lot of time and money on this campaign which Ad Age says “takes a more personal approach to encouraging consumers to explore the lands around them.” The Ad Age also mentions that the company sold $2 billion in retail during 2017 and has increased spending on their current campaign by a third compared to their last strategical effort (Rodriguez, 2014).
The North Face is one of the largest outdoor apparel companies, holding a massive $156.9 million in estimated average annual revenue. (“North Face Competitors…”, n.d.) The company has over 200 stores and witnessed an astronomical gain in revenue with a reported $2.3 billion earned last year (Meltzer, 2017).
The North Face sells products through two predominant methodologies, online sales and retail stores. The North Face has established retail stores and outlets in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America (Bloomberg, n.d.). The company has over 200 stores with a reported $2.3 billion in revenue last year, compared to Patagonia’s more modest $800 million with only 29 individual stores within the United States (Meltzer, 2017). Some challenges that North face has faced is that they have been under fire from animal rights organizations for using materials from animals that have been treated poorly, even though they claim that they only source cruelty free down for their products. In the article it says, “Animal rights campaigners found that the source of the clothing firm’s supplier was in fact Hungarian farms where geese are artificially fattened in order to make pâté de foie gras from their oversized livers” (Beckford, 2012). Like Patagonia, The North Face is active Both of these companies are advocated of environmental issues. The North Face abides to these actions by using recycled materials in their products. North face’s products uses, “top quality gear designed to withstand the harsh conditions and last a lifetime does not come cheap” (Meltzer, 2017). The North Face and Patagonia are fundamentally similar in that both companies foster, “ethical treatment of workers, minimizing emissions from company workshops, and transparency on business ventures are the orders of the day both the companies (Ryan, 201
