The North Face Unveils Summit Series, Reimagined Innovation and new technologies reshape this iconic, best in class collection.

The North Face, a world leader in outdoor equipment, apparel and footwear, announced today the unveiling of a new take on its iconic Summit Series collection which, after a year-long hiatus, will be back for sale October 15, reimagined with cutting edge innovation and purposeful design.

The collection, built by and for the core mountaineering and climbing community, will be available in limited quantity, and expect to be in specialty retail outlets and online for a brief amount of time.

“We built this for ourselves, and our athletes, and were inspired by the creative path,” said Vice President, Global Product Joe Vernachio. “We challenged ourselves, at every fork in the road, to take the path least traveled and in the end, this product is where we ended up, and we feel that we made a very compelling collection of products.”

Launched in the Fall of 2000, Summit Series has always been a collection of styles that represent the pinnacle of The North Face products. With new technologies and innovations developed by The North Face in the last few years the company saw an opportunity to revitalize the Summit Series collection by infusing it with cutting edge technologies.

Athlete Inspired Products

The North Face RD&D team behind the collection was guided by a design ethos of “Respect. Inspire. Evolve.” The line Respects the athlete’s culture and the environment that they play in; it Inspires athletes through the products design, feel and function; and it Evolves by pushing the limits in innovation and technology.

In order to achieve those benchmarks members of The North Face Athlete Team had input on the line from the concept stage through finalization of the line, beginning with the question: What does a perfect kit consist of?

“We went directly to our mountaineering and climbing athletes to ask them what their essentials are, and the responses from everyone were very clear: they needed six essential layers that they would be able to utilize in the various conditions one finds during high-alpine winter pursuits,” said Vernachio.

The six-layer collection is comprised of layers L1 through L6, named as a nod to the layer each piece should be as it is being worn.

The Summit L1 Top and Pant are base layering essentials made from engineered fabric to provides zonal warmth and moisture management, as well as articulated construction for mobility.

The Summit L2 Jacket is a midlayer made with extremely durable Polartec® Thermal Pro® with Hardface® Technology fleece, and has an engineered knit back for targeted warmth and moisture management.

An ultra light down mid-layer, the Summit L3 Jacket is insulated with 800-fill RDS down. The face fabric utilizes FuseForm™ construction for targeted durability with minimal seams and a digitally printed color that uses less water than traditional dyeing process.

Our warmest synthetic mid-layer, the Summit L4 Jacket is insulated with ThermoBall™, a synthetic, proprietary The North Face insulation that retains warmth when wet. The jacket’s minimal, unibody construction reduces seams and its quilt design prevents insulation migration and cold spots.

The Summit L5 Shell and Shell Pant are the most advanced shell outerwear The North Face has ever built, utilizing a waterproof, breathable DryVent™ 3L membrane. The shell and pant have localized FuseForm™ construction for targeted durability with minimal seams and were designed with articulated, one-piece construction for alpine mobility.

The final layer of the line is the Summit L6 Jacket, an 800-fill RDS down belay jacket that uses welded, Z-baffle construction for increased warmth and weather-resistance, and FuseForm™ construction for targeted durability.

Product, The Other Way

The approach to unveiling the Fall 2015 Summit Series collection is “The Other Way,” which ties to the product being designed outside the traditional RD&D timetables, as well as the limited quantity of line, which will only be online and in stores for a limited amount of time.

“Because the product is unique and crafted for specific endeavors and core athletes, it was clear that the product belonged in specialty retail environments where it can be shared with core outdoor athletes in a way that is unique and personalized to them,” said The North Face VP, Sales Tony Erlick. “Whether it’s the new Summit Series collection, or limiting distribution to specialty dealers, everything we have done to bring this line to market ties back to ‘The Other Way.’”