The North Face Jacket

I have been wearing The North Face jackets for about twenty years.  While my two sons were growing up, my wife and I got them jackets from The North Face.  My wife also wears them.  As my sons moved on with their lives and started their own families, they continue wearing the same brand of jackets.  Last year my wife purchased one for my oldest grand daughter.  She likes it.

We all live in suburbs of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  We know what winter is like.  Some days one is out and about with temperatures dipping in the low -20′s with windshield of -40F degrees.  As I am writing this entry the outside temperature in Bloomington, MN a few blocks away from the Mall of America, is a balmy 9F.  At least the sun is shining and the wind is from the West.  Yes, we pay attention to the weather in this part of the country.

Yesterday my wife and I were looking for jackets for my oldest son and one for myself.  After driving to different stores we finally settled with a couple North Face jackets.  The selection in stock was not too broad.  We should have gone on-line and order the jackets directly from www.nothface.com.  The selection is complete but one has to wait a few days for delivery.  I guess we were somewhat anxious to get over and done with our last shopping for the holidays.

Yesterday after shopping, my wife and I made it home.  Tried on my new jacket.  Definitely The North Face knows what they are doing regarding outdoor apparel.  They have good quality products.  As I was looking at the jackets I noticed the interior label in the back.  Written in French they have the country of origin were the jackets were manufactured, China.  A couple guys in the San Francisco, CA area, started the company about forty years ago.  Do not know the nationality of the two founders (not that it matters), but The North Face is a public American company.  You can read more about the company in their web site.

I did not like to learn that these jackets were made outside the USA (OUS).  I fired up my computer and did some on-line research on the company.  Given the popularity of their products, at least in this part of the country, I was surprised to find out that the company size is in the 201-500 employees.  I seriously doubt they manufacture any of their goods.  It appears they do not own manufacturing facilities or hire employees to make their jackets or any of their products.

The North Face jackets are probably not the most expensive ones money can buy, but by no means they are cheap.  You can get a flavor of their pricing by visiting their on-line store.  I am not privy to their production costs.  I can just make an educated guess, which is completely subjective.  I was talking with some friends a couple days ago.  They have a few retail shops in the Twin Cities area which also sell products manufactured OUS.  They told me that depending on the product, they charge for an item what a dozen to half dozen costs them.  This is why retailers are able to discount items by 50% and still make profits.

Let’s take a look at the jacket.  The design was hopefully made in the US.  The designers might work at a company facility or from home.  Include a very reduced layer of management (which is always good), compensations, benefits, taxes, shipping and what is being paid to a Chinese company to manufacture the goods.  After that we have the cost of advertising and profits.  For the amount of money being generated, just a very small percentage finds its way to Naive Americans.  Both The North Face and the parent VF Corporation (www.vfc.com) are public companies.  I took a brief look at the long list of brands / companies / labels and for the little I know most of the labels are not manufactured in the US.

So the next time Naive Americans go out shopping, I urge you to pause and spend a few seconds looking at what you are buying and were and how it is being manufactured.  About 80% of America’s working force is into services (i.e., accounting, business administration, marketing, sales).  As this trend continues, our inflation and foreign debt will keep on growing to the point that the American way of life will (do not confuse it with might) become a thing of the past.

By the way, I asked my wife to please return the jacket that we purchased for me.  The following day, my son on his own, decided to return his jacket.  It appears that at least in this case, these two Naive Americans walked the talk.

Perhaps we are not that late to make a CHANGE in the US for generations to come!