The North Face Responsible Management

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Responsible Management

Sheng Guo 21030185 Responsible Management (FU010041) Unit Leader: Fran Sheldon Word Count: 2464 I certify that no part of this essay was plagiarized. All the sentences are my own sentences, and any information or data borrowed from a source was put in my own words, and proper credit has been given to the source.

Executive Summary This reported is presented for The North Face, which selling crafting quality outdoor clothing, back-packs, and shoes from the past 50 years. The report aims to develop in-depth research on The North Face’s current sustainability strategy for society through environment circularity, trans-parency, and social responsibility.

The North Face is a subsidiary of the VF Corporation United States, which also the parent com-pany of Vans, Timberland, Supreme, and Dickies. Over the 50 years, The North Face has delici-ated to develop qualitied outdoor clothing, footwear, and equipment for all the adventurers.

Currently, the Good on you rated the North Face sustainability as “Good”, which is 4 out of 5 points, with already developed strategy that focus on scale circularity, responsibly sources fab-rics, minimize suppliers’ and environmental footprints, and social responsibilities.

However, there are still limitations on not minimizing the packaging waste, securing the worker’s well-being, and sustainable visibilities. Therefore, the report will focus on finding appropriate solutions and recommendations that The North Face could develop further with secondary and primary research from the North Face at Westfield Stratford, London, UK. The risks management are also researched in this report, in addition to a visualization of the one transformation proposal.

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Table of Content Executive Summary Table of Content

2 3

1 Introduction

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2 Responsible Management Analysis

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Literature review Primary Research (In store: Stratford) Carroll’s pyramid of CSR Sustainable development goals Risk analysis

9 11 12 13 14

Introduction CSR Analysis Perception

5 6 7

3 Transformation Proposal

15

Recommendation Implementation plan: Kotter 8 step change model Visual concept

16 17 18

4 Conclusion

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Conclusion

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Annotated reflective jorney map Image Reference Text Reference Appendix

21 22 24 26

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1 Introduction

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Introduction The North Face is an outdoor brand that founded in 1966, expanded from a single store at San Francisco to a global well-known brand. From the past 57 years, the North Face has deliciated to inspiring the global movement of exploration and revolutionizing the outdoor gear. The primary products range sold from technically advanced outdoor apparel, footwear, equipment, and accessories, built on innovation and high performance to support every explorer in their adventure.

Walls are meant for climbing (VF Corp - The North Face) Shaping the future of human/nature (TNF Official Website)

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Figure 5 TM

NEVER STOP EXPLORING

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CSR Analysis The North Face social responsibility are followed by their parent company VF Corporation, sharing the same standards on social, environment, and ethnical commitments.

According to good on you, the North Face is rated as “Good”, since it has a well-developed supply chain management with good animal welfare and hazardous chemicals elimination policies, in addition to certificated by Bluesign. However, good on you also stated that the North Face is lack of evidence toward minimizes packaging, and fair living wages payment.

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Figure 8 Figure 10

In the 2023 Fashion Transparency Index by Fashion Revolution, the North Face is scored 61 to 70%, which means the company already has information about detailed supplier list, from manufactures, processing facilities and raw material suppliers, in addition addressing the racial equality, labour law and sustainability practice in their company management.

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Q1: What are the contradictions between the sustainable commitments wrote on their websites and didn’t fully commit in their offline store?

The Take-Back recycling clothes program is not seen in the offline store and the number of circular design products are limited in store. In order to raise the sustainability awareness of the consumer and store members, showing more sustainable visibility in store is essential for The North Face. / Responsible Management

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Perception Figure 13

Higher environment visibility Higher Quality

Lower social visibility Lower Price

Higher social visibility

Higher Price

Low environment visibility Figure 14

Low Quality

- According to the rating on Good on you (appendix), The North Face and Patagonia are both rated as “Good”, with good sustainable visibility on their social, environment (planet & animal) practice and close connection between sustainability associations. Jack Wolfskin, Fjall Raven, Arc’teryx and Mammut are rated as “It’s a start”, with some information about their sustainability management, but limited. Columbia, REI, and Canada Goose are rated as “Not Good enough”, means that their sustainability visibility is lack evidence and information to support.

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2 Responsible Management Analysis Figure 15

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Literature review 1

Image of the original book

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Literature review 2

Image of the original book

Q2: How could CE (Circular Economy) system contribute to the sustainable fashion business model?

Through the adoption of R strategies, waste hierarchy, systems perspective, and sustainable development. In details, fashion business could introduce strategies that relating to the 4Rs framework, from Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover, such as introduce eco-design, industrial symbiosis, energy efficiency in the sustainability strategies. Think about systems perspective from micro, meso, and macro perspective to inspect product level, eco-industrial level, and globally level about being sustainable. Or target the 17 UNSDGs goals in sustainable fashion business and relating each goal to specific strategies. / Responsible Management

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(Created in Excel by Sheng Guo)

Primary Research (In store: Stratford)

There is a big infinity sign and circular slogan & URL on the front window of the store, in addition to sustainability related advertise posters in store and products with

sustainability advertise/decrorate s are only stayed for couple weeks

there are no sustainable visibility/advertise in store

en nm iro

l

cia

paper bag are used at the check out

So

proof. On the product tags, there is one page with QR code of the sustainability com-

unable to find recycled material inform in the sewing tags just general fabrics

t

circular design tag. As entering the store, the first section is the GORE-TEX products section, a functionality product with durably waterproof, breathable, and totally wind-

only internal use tracebility label could find on the sewing tag

the renewed take-back box isn't seen in store

En v

10/03/2023

only one circulardesign product seen in store

mitment. However, many of the clothes are tagged with recycled materials, but cannot be find specifically in the fabric label. However, the bag swing tags can be found with om

on ic

good consumer flow in the store

product with competitive price

Pe

Ec

part traceable information.

op le

empolye have barely knowledge on brand sustainability strategy

consumers and employe are barely educated about sustainability

some consumers are not aware about the XPLR membership

Primary research from The North Face store at Stratford Westfirld, London

10/23/2023 The window display is fully changed, the big infinity sign and circular slogan & URL are all removed, in addition to any sustainability related advertises inside the store are also removed. Moreover, product of circular design sewing tag cannot be finding anymore. Products sold in the store are shifted from mainly sustainability to functionality.

In addition, the staff also has nonawareness and knowledge about the circular design products, the sustainability strategies, and why is being removed.

Primary research from The North Face store at Stratford Westfirld, London / Responsible Management

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Carroll’s pyramid of CSR The Take-Back Program of the North Face current responsible strategy

- Encouraging society to participate in environmental benefit programs Philanthropic

Responsibilities

- Offering discounted products with same quality for people cannot afford them - Encouraging customers to close the loop by recycling and reusing the past clothes - Employee and customer education

- Closing the garment end of life loop

- Guaranteed level of refurbish products Ethical Responsibilities

Legal Responsibilities

Economic Responsibilities

- Fair manner with all stakeholder (supplier, employee, distributors) - Responsible to the environment by reduce, recycle, remanufacture, and reuse

- Provide service/products with legal standards

- Obeying the consumer rights

- Protect donator privacy information

- Obey the environmental laws

- Paying regular taxes and duties

- Protecting stakeholder rights

- Long-term consistently profit

- Increase product and service.

- Minimize cost from selling past clothing.

- Reduce waste.

- Increase targeting market and customers.

- Maximize sales

- Increase product and service.

- Stay competitive from other competitors

Q3: How will carol pyramid support the north face to be more ethnical.

According to the good on you rating for the North Face, it is concluded as “Good”. However, the planet and people section are only rated as “it’s a start” individually since the North Face are lacking information and commitments on the minimizes packaging and production transparency. Moreover, in the CSR page of the North Face, it shows that they only followed compliance principles to meet the standard, rather than providing people the base needs for living. Therefore, it is at the Legal part of the Carroll’s Pyramid. For them to the ethnical part of the Pyramid, the North Face needs to develop further on their transparency, greenhouse emission, and recycle materials. / Responsible Management 12

Sustainable development goals

active contribute

(Created in Excel by Sheng Guo)

responsible strategy

No / Limited content

This graph is based on the research of the North Face responsible strategy (commitments, VF Corp shared standards), and the active contribute (events, social media posts, advertises). In the official website of the North Face, their commitments included from complete the circle (circularity), make the best better(materials), extent our reach (suppliers), rethink packaging (recycle). On their social media (Instagram & Facebook) account, they also consistently share their adventure stories with the customer, and sustainability report/advertises. According to the share standards with VF Corp (parent company), it focus on 4 main topic, from People, communities, human rights, workers wellbeing; Planet, climate, energy, materials, water; Product, Circularity, chemistry, traceability; Governance, stakeholder engagement, reporting & data, Policies & standards, ethic & compliance, and factory lists.

Moderate content Substanrial content

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Risk analysis

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3 Transformation Proposal

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Recommendation Following are the 8 transformation recommendations to help The North Face become more reponsible to the society, rank it by critical, from three different aspect, circular (green coloured), transparency (blue coloured), social responsibility (orange coloured).

1

2

Install a circular section flagship store at each countr y/region, for circular de-

Design a new sustainable

sign and/or The North Face

r eusa ble packa ging that

Renewed apparels and/or

minimum the waste from

Renewed Take-Back Box.

package. (Circular)

(Circular)

5

6

3

4

Specific the manufacture

Products that had recycled

information of the product

material ta gs, detail the

on the manufacture tag, by

specific recycled material

making a QR code to scan,

name on the special label,

or publicl y tr acing code.

and what is it recycled from.

(Transparency)

(Circular + Transparecy)

7

Set an annual audit subject Introduce a new training c o u r s e fo r a l l e m p l oye e about the North Face sustainability strategies.

(Social responsibility + Circular)

on living wages, to secure that workers are receiving the living base wages rather than minimum wages.

(Social responsibility)

8 Introduce adventure events

Install permanent sustainable visibility in store, by sustainability infor mation posters, sustainable strategy advertises. (Circular)

for consumer that go into the natur e and educate them about the importance of circularity.

(Social responsibility)

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Implementation plan: Kotter 8 step change model Installing a circular section in the flagship store in each country/region is the most critical recommendation since it is a further development from the current sustainability strategy.

During the first store visit (10/03) at the North Face store in Stratford, there was only one piece of circular-design product that could be found in the whole store, and when I visited the store back on 10/23, it had already been bought by the customer, and couldn’t find another circular-design anymore. This observation proved that circular design products are very welcome by marketing and should be stocking more inventory for other consumers to buy. Therefore, the North Face should develop a special area for all the circular designs and renewed products to be sold in-store rather than just online.

Moreover, since is based on the current product/strategy it requires less work from the company, rather than developing a completely new strategy.

8. Create an improvement/limitation solution of the current installation and connecting to the current instillation making sure it could be embedded into the company and aim of the plan.

In addition to think about the cost and return on the new strategies/solutions.

7. Considering what improvement we could do to achieve the goals we haven’t reached yet, and what limitation we find on the first implementation. For example, since all the renewed products require donation from the past clothing bought that bought by consumers, the North Face could improve its strategy on benefits for donation that connect to the aim of the brand, such as giving collaboration with adventure/outdoor community for donation benefits.

6. Create a short-term feedback report on goals we achieved and goals we have not achieved yet. Such as post a questionnaire for customer to fill.

5. Calculate all the risk and barriers may face during the install implementation process, and solutions to remove all the obstacles. Such as, making space for the new sustainable section in each store.

4. Communicate our plans and vision across the company, share the news on the North Face social media to inform others about the vision, and goals we want to achieve.

Figure 17

Figure 18

1

3. Start creat a vision of after the installation in store complete, what do we goals we expect to achieve and want to benefit from this plan. Such as, picking the right location,

Install a circular section flagship store at each countr y/region, for circular de-

2. Finding talents inside the company or hiring talent from public to create a specialty team for the sustainable section store installation plan.

sign and/or The North Face Renewed apparels and/or Renewed Take-Back Box. (Circular)

1. Explaining the detail plan and urgency about installing a sustainable special section in the stores, and how could it benefit the company to expand target market and consistently profit growth, in addition to achieving sustainability commitments.

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Visual concept According to the store observation at The North Face, the first section on the right as first walk in is a perfect location for sustainable products and related posters. Since is the first right section that consumer will see it will be eye catching and attract customers to stimulate sales for a new strategy and educate the consumers about the North Face action on the sustainability.

The location of sustainable section on a 2D floor plan.

(Created on floorplanner.com by Sheng Guo)

The visualization of new sustainable product sections that installed in The North Face at Startford in the whole store view (Orginal photo took from primary research from The North Face at Westfield Stratford, London)

A close look at the visualization of new sustainable product sections in The North Face at Startford. (Original Photo took from primary research from The North Face at Westfield Stratford, London) / Responsible Management 18

4 Conclusion

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Conclusion This report summarizes the current responsible management limits of the North Face, based on a self-report from the North Face’s current sustainable strategy and VF Corp’s annual sustainability report, with store observation only from the North Face at Stratford, London, UK. In addition, it provides recommendation and solutions for how the North Face can further develop their business strategy to become more responsible to the fashion industry and society.

On the other hand, there could be limitation just picking a specific store rather than a large number store research. Since the North Face is a brand originated from the United States, research based on the United Kingdom could also causing an information gap from non-originating place.

For research in the future, it could be focus on developing more detail and visual solutions for the North Face to become responsible with more information/research based on the United State the North Face observations.

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Annotated reflective jorney map Before starting the sustainable research of the North Face, I thought it is a developed avant-garde sustainable outdoor brand, since it has a high reputation in the outdoor consumers, and a large group of loyal customers. When I start my CSR research, I started to get known about the brand better, and was confused by their sustainability pages not completely developed, as many of the information could only find half of it or direct the researchers to their parent company sites, such as the standards, annual sustainability reports. In addition, many of their commitments are general without any providing examples, and I started to question that whether the North Face are really following their commitments as their website stated. So, I visited the store at Westfield Stratford, London to find proves of all the sustainable strategy that The North Face stated on their website and social media. However, I was super disappointed during the store visit, since there are only a little of sustainable visibility hide in the store. The circular design products that they advertise as their No.1 circular solution are only able to find one stocking instore, and other than sustainability commitments website URL that visual mechanised on the front window I couldn’t find any more sustainable visibility instore. Therefore, I was angry about their faked commitments.

However, during my research on Good on You, I compared the ratings on all the outdoor apparel brands and noticed that The North Face and Patagonia had the highest rate (Good) apart from other competitors. I noticed that many of the information that the North Face provided and advertising on the social medias are already much better than other outdoor competitors, in addition with mostly developed corporate social responsibility and annual audit standards. Moreover, many of the North Face sustainability information are only available on its United States official websites, and explained why I couldn’t find when researching in the UK. Then I start to compose recommendation from it and gain hope for the North Face UK to be one day as developed as they do in the US. I found many of the sustainable strategy are already in their commitments but without acting it, so based on the strategies I give specific ways that the North Face could achieved resilience the brand. / Responsible Management

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Image Reference Figure 1: The North Face Never stop exploring (2014) The North Face . Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/16042649/TheNorth-Face-Brand-Campaign (Accessed: 21 October 2023).

Figure 2: The North Face — Soldat Alpin (2020) The North Face. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/106572151/The-NorthFace-Soldat-Alpine-2020 (Accessed: 15 December 2023).

Figure 3: ILIFF, D. (2013) Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Half_ Dome_from_Glacier_Point,_Yosemite_NP_-_Diliff.jpg (Accessed: 23 October 2023).

Figure 4: mharris7 (2019) The North Face Brand Wallpaper Copemlegit, WallpaperSafari. Available at: https://wallpapersafari.com/w/oPpdsV (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 5: The North Face Our Journey (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/about-us/our-story.html (Accessed: 23 October 2023).

Figure 6: The North Face (no date) wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Face (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

Figure 7: The North Face Women’s (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.se/en_se/womens.html (Accessed: 23 October 2023).

Figure 8: Primary Research from The North Face Official Instagram Account (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 9: The North Face social responsibility (2014) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/innovation/sustainability/operations/social-responsibility.html (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 10: Primary Research from The North Face Official Instagram Account (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 11: The North Face’s Sustainability Journey: Prioritizing ESG Initiatives, Promoting Inclusivity, and Inspiring Action (2023) Environment+Energy Leader. The North Face. Available at: https://www.environmentenergyleader.com/2023/02/the-north-faces-sustainability-journey/ (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

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Image Reference Figure 12: The North Face Our Journey (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/about-us/our-story.html (Accessed: 23 October 2023).

Figure 13: Materials The North Face (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/sustainability/materials (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 14: VF FY2022 Made for Change Report FINAL (2022) VF Corp. Available at: https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/vfc/files/documents/Sustainability/Resources/VF_FY2022_Made_for_Change_Report_FINAL.pdf (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Figure 15:WINTER CLIMBING: 9 TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED (2018) MSR. MSR TEAM. Available at: https://www.msrgear.com/blog/win ter-climbing-tips/ (Accessed: 10 November 2023).

Figure 16:Yamada, H. (2011) The North Face: Trip of a lifetime—Los Molles, Argentina, kamikene. The North Face. Available at: https:// kamikene.org/The-North-Face-Trip-of-a-lifetime-Los-Molles-Argentina-Advertisement (Accessed: 20 December 2023).

Figure 17: The north face renewed - used clothing ready to explore again (no date) The North Face Renewed - Used Clothing Ready to Explore Again. Available at: https://www.thenorthfacerenewed.com/ (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

Figure 18: VFC, D. & (no date) Circularity, The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/circularity (Accessed: 15 December 2023).

Figure 19: The North Face Wallpaper (no date) Copemlegit. The North Face. Available at: https://www.copemlegit.com/wallpapers/thenorth-face-wallpaper/ (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

Figure 20: The North Face — Soldat Alpin (2020) The North Face. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/106572151/The-NorthFace-Soldat-Alpine-2020 (Accessed: 15 December 2023)

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Text Reference

\Corporate social responsibility of Patagonia encouraging customers to buy used clothing a (no date) EssayPandas. Available at: https://www.essaypandas.com/case/15606-Patagonia-Encouraging-Customers-to-Buy-Used-Clothing-A-Corporate-Social-Responsibility (Accessed: 31 October 2023).

Griffin, A. (2019) The north face apologises after sneaking marketing images onto Wikipedia, The Independent. Available at: https:// www.independent.co.uk/tech/north-face-wikipedia-controversy-scandal-wikimedia-marketing-images-a8938821.html (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

Hartova, E. (2021) The North Face and Gucci’s striking partnership, featured on the cover of the latest issue of Sidetracked Magazine, has divided opinion. But Em Hartova argues that the debate misses the real story when it comes to sustainability and outdoor clothing. , Adventure Uncovered. Available at: https://adventureuncovered.com/stories/how-the-north-face-x-gucci-controversy-is-hidingthe-real-issue/ (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

How to successfully implement Kotter’s 8 step change model (no date) Lucidity. Available at: https://getlucidity.com/strategy-resources/guide-to-kotters-8-step-change-model/#step-1-create-a-sense-of-urgency (Accessed: 05 January 2024).

Kirchherr, J., Reike, D. and Hekkert, M. (2017) ‘Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions’, in Resources conservation and recycling. 1st–2nd edn. ELSEVIER, pp. 221–232.

The north face (no date) The North Face - Sustainability Rating - Good On You. Available at: https://directory.goodonyou.eco/brand/ the-north-face (Accessed: 15 December 2023).

Ponte, C.D., Liscio, M.C. and Sospiro, P. (no date) ‘State of the art on the Nexus between sustainability, fashion industry and sustainable business model’, in Sustainable Chemistry and pharmacy . May 2023. Elsevier (100968).

Materials The North Face (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/sustainability/materials (Accessed: 25 October 2023). / Responsible Management

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Text Reference Responsibility (no date) VF Corporation. Available at: https://www.vfc.com/responsibility (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

Sustainability (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/sustainability.html (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

The north face renewed - used clothing ready to explore again (no date) The North Face Renewed - Used Clothing Ready to Explore Again. Available at: https://www.thenorthfacerenewed.com/ (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

The North Face Our Journey (no date) The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/about-us/our-story.html (Accessed: 23 October 2023).

‘FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2023’ (2023). Fashion Revolution.

‘Global Survey of Sustainability Reporting 2022’ (2022). KPMG International.

VFC, D. & (no date) Circularity, The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/circularity (Accessed: 15 December 2023).

VFC, D. & (no date b) Sustainable commitments, The North Face. Available at: https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/sustainability (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

VF FY2022 Made for Change Report FINAL (2022) VF Corp. Available at: https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/vfc/files/documents/ Sustainability/Resources/VF_FY2022_Made_for_Change_Report_FINAL.pdf (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

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Text Reference VF FY ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2023 (2023) VF Corp. Available at: https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_8976ca631b4350ebfb8ce74b4ebdc137/vfc/files/documents/Sustainability/Resources/VF_FY2023_Environmental_Social_Responsibility_Report_FINAL.pdf (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

(No date) North Face is latest target of backlash after Pride Celebration AD. Available at: https://www.thestreet.com/retailers/northface-is-latest-target-of-backlash-after-pride-celebration-ad (Accessed: 25 December 2023).

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Appendix

Good on You research on all outdoor brand

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Fashion Revolution: 2023 Fashion Transparency Index

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Fashion Revolution: 2023 Fashion Transparency Index

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