Newsweek: “The True Face of North Face”

“Our American Stories”, Lee Habeeb, discusses The North Face’s refusal to sell jackets to Innovex and COGA’s response.

“It started with a nice gesture. Adam Anderson, the CEO of Innovex Downhole Solutions, wanted to buy his employees a Christmas gift. So he ordered 400 North Face jackets and asked that their corporate logo be included.

Then came the bad news. The North Face company would sell Innovex the jackets but wouldn’t include the energy company’s logo. The reason? Innovex was an oil and gas company, and it would be a bad thing for North Face’s public image to associate itself with the industry.

Not happy with that answer, Anderson struck back with some public relations of his own. It turns out the vast majority of North Face’s apparel—its hoodies, snow pants, coats and many other items in its product line, like backpacks and tents—are made with polyester, polyurethane and nylon, all of which come from petroleum. Even its fancy fleece jackets are made of polyester.”

Read the full article here