North Face is a classic example of neoliberalism run amok. They used to manufacture their products in a Berkeley factory, but that was shut down in 1993 as neo

North Face is a classic example of neoliberalism run amok. They used to manufacture their products in a Berkeley factory, but that was shut down in 1993 as neoliberal trade deals opened up access to low-wage factories around the world. The current list of manufacturing sites is fairly broad, but Vietnam and Bangladesh appear to be among the main ones. Notably, when you hear about the crisis of homelessness around the SF Bay Area, keep in mind that in the 1980s (when there were not nearly as many homeless, like 90% less by population ratio), there were a lot more garment and electronics manufacturing jobs in the region. https://themenhero.com/where-is-the-north-face-made/ https://themenhero.com/where-is-the-north-face-made/ Since sales are probably not that high in Vietnam/Bangaladesh etc., this requires a robust global shipping system to get product from factory to consumer (probably mostly in North America, Europe, Japan, but sales location isn't reported much). It's a safe bet that cost-of-shipping increases are more than made up for by cost-of-manufacturing decreases due to outsourcing. As far as the raw materials going into nylon/polyester, yes those are petrochemicals but could be replaced by aerochemicals, i.e. direct capture of CO2 and conversion to butadiene, ethylene, etc. for feeding into synthetic fabric production. Such tech is currently expensive, but if all the oil & gas & coal on the planet suddenly vanished, we could still make nylon. On the whole oil & gas issue, this article/podcast lays it out nicely. Apparently it's all about having consistent brand image management: https://supplychainnow.com/north-face-dilemma-670/ https://supplychainnow.com/north-face-dilemma-670/