How Sustainable is The North Face?
Average Sustainability Score
Good
With its extensive use of recycled materials and comprehensive circularity initiatives, The North Face has made steady progress in reducing its environmental impact. Through programs like its Renewed resale and recycling platform and the growing, fully-recyclable Circular Design collection, the brand is working to keep its products in play longer. Still, it trails leading competitors in key areas, including curbing its greenhouse gas emissions and providing comprehensive repair services outside of warranty. Dive in here for the full low-down on sustainability at The North Face.
This sustainability analysis evaluates both product- and brand-level initiatives to capture the full scope of The North Face’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact. Our research draws from The North Face’s published sustainability data, other reputable sources, third-party certifications (a cornerstone of our process), and correspondence with brand representatives. We have independently researched over 30 The North Face products to date and counting, giving us a broad understanding of the brand’s use of low-impact materials, chemistry, and manufacturing practices.
You can also explore our analyses of other outdoor brands, or use our advanced search to find products that align with your sustainability values.
The North Face earns a “Good” rating for transparency around its sustainability initiatives. Product-level sustainability information on its website is clear and accessible, with little room for confusion. However, the annual impact report from VF Corporation, The North Face’s parent company, provides only partial insight. While it includes greenhouse gas tracking at the Scope 1 and 2 levels, the company did not disclose Scope 3 emissions in 2024 due to delays in collecting data from third-party vendors. The report also omits updates on important issues, such as the status of its PFAS phase-out or current data on low-impact material use. Although the brand shares information on materials, circularity, and emissions on its website, the absence of a dedicated report specific to The North Face causes its transparency to lag behind that of some competitors. Still, representatives at the brand have been highly responsive to our inquiries, helping us fill the gaps in our understanding.
When it comes to replacing virgin materials with recycled ones, The North Face stands out as an industry leader. Recycled materials offer similar performance to their virgin counterparts but with a significantly smaller carbon footprint, and well over three-quarters of The North Face products we’ve researched incorporate these low-impact materials (most commonly recycled polyester and nylon).
In 2024, the brand reported that over 95% of the polyester and 80% of the nylon it used was made from recycled or responsibly-sourced renewable content (up from 85% and 75% in 2023, respectively). The North Face aimed to source 100% recycled, responsibly sourced, or regeneratively grown polyester, nylon, and cotton by 2025, but fell just short of its goal. Notably, in 2024, The North Face’s parent company reported using just under 50% recycled polyester across its portfolio of brands, which include Icebreaker, Altra, Smartwool, Timberland, and others. Among these brands, The North Face stands out for its extensive use of recycled content.
Although The North Face has been a Bluesign System Partner since 2008, the brand incorporates very few Bluesign-approved materials into its products. Participation in the Bluesign system ensures textiles and products meet strict standards for chemical safety, emissions, and environmental responsibility. While any brand can source Bluesign-approved fabrics, becoming a System Partner signals a stronger commitment to responsible chemistry, with onsite assessments every two to three years. Typically, Bluesign System Partners use a large share of these approved materials, but surprisingly, we have yet to review any The North Face products that incorporate them.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were once the outdoor industry standard for use in durable water-repellent (DWR) treatments and waterproof membranes for their exceptional water repellency. However, due to their health risks and subsequent bans in states like California and New York, many outdoor brands—including The North Face—are taking steps to rid their product lines of these so-called “forever chemicals.” In 2021, The North Face’s parent company, VF Corporation, announced that it would phase PFAS out of its products.
Midway through 2025, The North Face reported that it achieved its goal of eliminating its use of PFAS in its products; now, all new The North Face styles are PFAS free. Other brands are on a similar trajectory and timeline: Patagonia completed its PFAS phase-out in early 2025, and Arc’teryx is on track to finish its phase-out by the end of the year. Still, other outdoor brands such as Fjallraven and Keen were well ahead of the curve, phasing PFAS out of their products in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
In partnership with The Textile Exchange, The North Face helped launch the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) in 2014. The standard was launched in an effort to ensure animal welfare and traceability from farm to finished product. Today, all of the brand’s virgin down is certified to the RDS, although we appreciate that The North Face also uses recycled down in many of its products. Additionally, since 2020, all of The North Face’s footwear leather has been sourced from Leather Working Group-certified tanneries, ensuring that the leather meets the group’s chemical management and environmental standards.
Across VF Corporation brands, approximately 95% of the wool used is either made from recycled material or certified to the ZQ Standard or Responsible Wool Standard, which ensures the welfare of sheep and the land they graze on. The remaining wool, which is not certified to these standards, is typically purchased from auctions, which limits traceability. Finally, the brand recently launched a partnership with rubber farmers in Thailand to cultivate rubber trees in a forest setting, rather than a plantation, for use in its footwear outsoles. However, The North Face has yet to release any products made with these materials.
Although VF Corporation conducts internal supplier audits, we found no evidence that The North Face utilizes third-party audit or certification programs. The brand does not participate in programs such as Fair Trade or Fair Wear to ensure safe working conditions and reduce the environmental impact of its factories. While The North Face participates in the International Labour Organization’s Better Work Program and the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) for some audits, it largely adheres to its own standards and policies. Better Work does not provide official certification or grading, and SLCP audits are generally not conducted annually. Without certification or grading, there is no clear assurance that factories uphold specific standards, leaving it largely up to the brand to make changes.
To meet our criteria, brands must participate in a third-party program that includes annual audits to ensure safe working conditions, fair wages, and a reduced environmental impact. We also require that suppliers be evaluated and scored against specific standards. Without such participation, The North Face does not meet our responsible manufacturing standard.
To decrease waste, The North Face launched a variety of packaging pilot programs in 2024. It first implemented these programs in 2022 in the United Kingdom, and after doing so, it expanded its “Naked Packaging” program to all of its distribution centers in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Strategies include shipping gloves without poly bags, sending select shoes in shoeboxes only, and recycling or eliminating poly bags.
In-store, The North Face swapped most of its plastic bags for Forest Stewardship Council-certified ones, which are made from paper sourced from sustainably managed forests and recycled materials. The brand also replaced all of its virgin plastic poly bags with recycled ones (and is making efforts to ship accessories without poly bags). As of 2024, VF Corporation reported that The North Face has shipped over 2 million products without plastic poly bags, collecting over 61,000 pounds of poly bags for recycling.
The North Face offers free repairs under its limited lifetime warranty and replaces covered products when a fix isn’t possible. However, footwear and The North Face Renewed products are covered under a one-year warranty rather than the lifetime one that applies to outerwear, backpacks, and gear. Through its warranty program, The North Face can patch tears, replace zippers, repair snaps, replace garment panels, fix seams, and more. The brand also provides replacement buckles upon request, but offers limited information about other replacement parts. While we appreciate that The North Face offers repairs, similar brands like Norrøna and Patagonia provide more detailed information on the types of repairs they can complete. Additionally, the brand does not offer customer-paid repairs: only products that are covered under the brand’s warranty are eligible. This means that damage arising from accidents or normal wear and tear are not eligible, marking a gap in the brand’s repair offerings.
Buying used is a great way to reduce your impact, and The North Face makes it easy to do so using its Renewed resale platform. Trade in your clean, wearable gear by mail or in-store, and The North Face will inspect it before listing it for sale on its platform. During this process, the brand washes, repairs, and refurbishes products that need a little bit of extra love (keep in mind that it does not renew items with significant wear, rips, stains, or piling). If your product can’t be renewed, The North Face will recycle, donate, or upcycle it (more on this later). Depending on the condition of your gear, the brand offers $10-50 in store credit. In addition to pre-loved gear, the brand sells returned, damaged, and defective gear on the site to prevent landfill waste.
The North Face occasionally upcycles gear that cannot be recycled or donated, which is then featured in the brand’s Remade collection, available for purchase online. The collection features one-of-a-kind vests, chalk bags, and more, made from old The North Face products. In 2024, the brand also launched a line of recyclable products, which it calls its Circular Design collection. All products in this growing collection are designed to be returned to The North Face for easy disassembly at the end of their lives. All in all, we applaud The North Face’s commitment to a more circular supply chain.
The North Face’s parent company, VF Corporation, tracks and reports on its emissions. VF began tracking its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (emissions from owned assets and purchased electricity) in 2009, the same year it published its first annual impact report. Over the years, it has expanded its tracking to include Scope 3 emissions, or supply chain emissions, which account for the majority of its total. In 2019, the parent company set a Science Based Targets Initiative-verified goal to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55% and Scope 3 emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to its 2017 baseline.
VF also aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 (defined as a 90% reduction in emissions). The company reports on its absolute emissions in its annual impact report, but in 2024, it did not report on its Scope 3 emissions due to delays in collecting data from suppliers. It offers solid reporting on its Scope 1 and 2 emissions data for 2023 and 2024, but does not include data describing its long-term trends. It also fails to publish year-over-year data on its carbon intensity, which describes emissions per product or per dollar of revenue.
Unfortunately, VF has not yet made any progress toward its Scope 3 reduction goal—in 2023, its Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services and transportation were 17% higher than its 2017 baseline. It has made substantial progress toward reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions: By 2024, it had reduced these emissions by 46% compared to 2017 levels. In total, VF’s carbon footprint in 2023 was 5,165,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Unfortunately, because The North Face does not report on its own emissions, we do not know what share of VF’s total emissions it is responsible for.
The North Face’s parent company, VF Corporation, publishes an annual impact report detailing the sustainability performance of its many subsidiary brands. Unlike Arc’teryx (which is also owned by a parent company), The North Face does not publish its own report. Instead, it relies on VF for all its reporting. This makes it difficult to track progress on materials, chemistry, and emissions reduction at the brand level. The 2024 VF report highlighted metrics such as recycled polyester use across its brands, renewable energy credits, poly bag reduction initiatives, and progress toward eliminating harmful chemicals (although it did not publish an update on its PFAS phase-out).
Unfortunately, it does not report comprehensive material use statistics (unlike Hoka’s parent company, Deckers Brands, which publishes an excellent report despite covering multiple brands) or its 2024 Scope 3 emissions, which comprise the majority of its total emissions. In addition to sustainability content, the VF report covers its progress toward improving workers’ rights. All in all, the report covers the basics, but it is far from the most comprehensive one we have read. In the future, we hope to see more transparent reporting on The North Face’s sustainability progress.
The North Face is an Outdoor Industry Association Climate Action Corps member. The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is a collective of brands that collaborate to develop sustainability initiatives, engage in policy discussions, and advocate for the outdoor industry on various topics. The Climate Action Corps is a coalition working towards reducing the outdoor industry’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Additionally, for the past 15 years, The North Face has operated The Explore Fund, which funds nonprofit organizations focused on conservation and expanding outdoor access. As of 2025, however, the program is undergoing a revamp to expand its reach.
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