The North Face has made one of its most recognisable jackets into a billboard. In downtown Manhattan, the front of a Nuptse puffer pushes out of the frame in full 3D, with rippled fabric, an oversized zip and padding thick enough to look warm from across the street. The billboard has no headline, no model and no photography. The jacket does all the talking.
The Jacket Is the Ad
The installation sits at the corner of Lafayette and Bleecker. Three fat bands of yellow padding bulge outward from the billboard, the way the baffles of a Nuptse puff up when it is zipped. A black panel runs across the top, carrying the white Half Dome logo high on the chest, exactly where it sits on the real jacket.
The details are what make it work. The fabric ripples between the bands, and a chunky zip runs straight down the centre. From the pavement, the billboard reads less like an advert and more like someone has zipped a building into a coat.
Built for the Camera
The North Face created the installation with agency Within Co. The agency’s message to passers-by was short. “Pictures are strongly encouraged!”
The billboard needs no copy because the shape alone identifies the product. Anyone who knows the Nuptse recognises it instantly, and anyone who doesn’t is likely to stop and take a photo anyway. Each photo shared online carries the jacket further than the corner it stands on.
The installation stays up until November 15.
A Jacket With Street Credentials
The Nuptse’s history dates back to 1992. Gear Patrol notes that it began as expedition gear and was then embraced in cities and in hip hop culture. A 1996 edition is still sold today in retro form.
That history makes a downtown New York corner a natural home for a giant version. The billboard lands in the same season as the new Summit Nuptse, which Gear Patrol reports costs $700 and uses 800 fill down. The North Face has not said whether the billboard is tied to that launch.
A Brand That Makes People Work for It
This is an unusually easy close-up by The North Face’s standards. In 2018, the brand opened a pop-up shop in the Dolomites, 2,100 metres up, stocked with gear worn by climbers including Alex Honnold and Conrad Anker. Reaching it meant a two-hour hike.
Last year, it took the internet’s advice to “touch grass” literally. A short film made with Highsnobiety and Zalando followed Berlin DJ LOVEFOXY as she swapped scrolling for foraging in the mountains, narrated like a nature documentary.
This time, the brand brought the product down to street level and made it impossible to miss. For a jacket famous for its silhouette, the silhouette was the whole campaign.
Campaign Name: Not mentioned
Agency Name: Within Co
Brand Name: The North Face
Location: Lafayette and Bleecker, New York
