ISPO Award Winner 2024: The North Face A68a Dryvent Monoshell Jacket

Created with The North Face athletes, Xavier, Victor and Mila De Le Rue, this 3L jacket is part of an expedition system built to provide maximum protection, with minimal impact. The North Face worked closely with the two snowboarders and one skier throughout the whole process of product design. »We often say here at the North Face, that our athlete team is our biggest asset. They are at the cutting edge of their game and they are really on the forefront of trends and insights«, says Tristan Chate, Senior Product Merchandising Manager at The North Face.

From concept development to testing the prototypes in extreme conditions in Europe and Antarctica, the athletes played a crucial role in ensuring that the collection met the highest performance requirements.

But not only that, as the athletes were very passionate about creating products with as little environmental impact as possible. »An antarctic expedition is a really niche activity but a thing that Xavier was very passionate about was for us to look at our internal processes and use this project to really scale sustainability throughout the company and where we can have a bigger impact on our overall footprint,« says Chate, giving further insights into the development. »So there are other products in the line, that also use the Dryvent Mono materials and not only our special A68A Collection.«

»There has always been a stigma that you can’t create sustainable products that also perform very highly, like this paradox that in order to make it sustainable you have to sacrifice on the performance element«, says Chate. The A68a DRYVENT™ Mono Shell Jacket breaks with that stigma and also doesn’t compromise on style at the same time. It features seam-sealed, waterproof protection with The North Face’s Dryvent™ Mono technology. Instead of using composite materials, which often cannot be disassembled in recycling and ultimately end up as waste, the brand constructed a 3 layer shell jacket and pants from recycled monomaterial instead. The mono-material construction is designed to reduce waste - all fabric and trims are made with one base material to enable easier recycling without extensive disassembly at end of life. After taking out the zip, which is a standard recycling procedure, the material can be returned into the supply chain at the end of use.

This way, the North Face garments can be recycled into new raw materials, representing a significant step forward in addressing the challenges of recycling technical products and supporting The North Face's commitment to advancing circular design principles. The whole collection was strategically designed with circularity in mind and to keep resources in use for future generations of explorers.

The A68a DRYVENT™ Mono Shell Jacket is part of a customizable layering system, as part of a whole collection. It allows athletes to mix and match their gear according to their individual performance needs, offering functional and versatile solutions for different conditions, fits and styles. 

The design is a modern play on the heritage of a traditional expedition jacket and comes with all the features needed for adventure: It has an articulated fit, adjustable, helmet-compatible, partial-drop hood with a drawcord hood and roomy pockets to store your essentials. Dual-entry bellowed hand pockets with side zips and hook-and-loop closures ensure, that all the gear can be stored away safely.

The jacket also has no shoulder seams for added comfort and reduced bulk while you’re wearing a pack. Raglan sleeves and underarm gussets allow full arms-up mobility, and adjustable cuffs with extended hook-and-loop tabs ensure the sleeves won’t ride up. The shell also features side zips for ventilation and added silhouette versatility, as well as a knotted drawcord with mechanical stretch at the hem for adjustability.

• Circular Design: thoughtfully designed to be disassembled and recycled at the end of its life into raw materials for a second generation of products to help minimize waste while maximizing adventures
• Seam-sealed, waterproof protection in a mono-material construction, designed to be recycled
• Thoughtfully added features and details in the adjustable hood, zip and pocket placements