Technical heritage, deconstructed

Rooted in utility and function, The North Face x Junya Watanabe collaboration takes our technical heritage apart and puts it back together differently. This is not a logo in a familiar shape. Junya Watanabe's avant-garde approach meets fabrics and constructions developed for weather rather than for show, and the result is a set of deconstructed, hybridised pieces made for people who reimagine what exploration looks like. Waterproof DRYVENT fabrics carry the same protection you would expect from anything we build, and utilitarian details run right through the collection: durable Vislon zippers, imaginative pockets, components that do a job rather than fill a space. Layers open where you would not expect them, panels meet at angles a purely functional brief would never arrive at, and the technical language of the mountain gets rewritten as something you would wear nowhere near one. Nothing here is decorative for its own sake, which is precisely why it looks the way it does. Highly technical, intentionally built. You can read how the waterproofing underneath it works in our DRYVENT technology guide.

Signature silhouettes, reimagined

Two shapes anchor the collection. The Mountain Jacket, one of the most recognisable silhouettes we have ever made, is rebuilt around an operational vintage search and rescue vest, pushing form and function somewhere neither has been before. Alongside it sits Junya Watanabe's signature MA-1, where our technical fabrics meet a bomber that nods to classic workwear and military tailoring. Both are familiar and neither is quite what you expect, which is the point of a collaboration worth doing. Expect layered construction, exposed function and proportions that sit differently on the body from a standard outdoor cut. Wear either against something plain, because both shapes carry more than enough on their own. On fit, a designer cut runs closer to the body than a mountain one, so if you are between sizes and want room to layer underneath, size up rather than down. For the rest of our outerwear, from the fully technical to the everyday, browse our men's jackets and coats.