The North Face
it’s a normal brand evolution. It happens in every brand that grows.
It comes down to me and the management team to manage this expansion in a smart strategic way. There are plenty of examples where this has gone wrong and we can learn from that, but there are also examples of where it’s been done well and it’s very possible.
SGBO: In terms of actual product categories, where do you see the brand’s growth in Europe? TS-E: For Europe in general there is still massive potential in what we see as our ‘classic’ business, which is outdoor. We do our market research country by country, and of course there can be big differences in there, you can’t compare the UK to France, for example, and France to Russia. Generally speaking in EMEA we still have a big upside in classic outdoor product; if you go through the data in some categories and sub- categories, talk about footwear or equipment, backpacks, there are still territories where we are not yet number one. That’s clearly a goal we want to pursue. And then there are categories close to the core, what we call action sports, snow sports, that kind of thing. We have a share in those already but there is room for expansion. Then there’s trail running, a very natural extension for us. All of our athletes go running to train for their disciplines, so it fits neatly for us. There is further growth in all of those areas: trail
running on the performance extreme side, into snow sports and action sports – but our first priority is outdoor.
SGBO: As Nike grew, there was a perception among independent retailers that the company became arrogant and acted as though they did not need the independents. In the outdoor industry there is only a couple of brands on your sort of scale at The North Face; how important are the independents to TNF as a brand? TS-E: You mean single store owners? The comparison to sporting goods companies is very right in some ways, but in others it’s very wrong. Sporting goods is so much bigger. When we look at our distribution strategy and channels, we look at that and everything it involves – including department stores, the whole spectrum of distribution – and by far, 80 per cent of what we look at is in classic outdoor. That’s how core we are. And we see in that outdoor channel that our absolute prime destination to retail, the independents play a prime role. It comes down to the authenticity of the store, which consumer buys there, is it the climber, weekend athlete, who? We have programs in place like the Summit Series program where we look after very small, very niche customers because they are selling to the most authentic and classic outdoor customer we had 42 years ago.
Of course you have key accounts, but we really
take care of the normal independents. They are very valuable to us, absolutely.
SGBO: What is The North Face doing in terms of its environmental credentials? TS-E: A massively important topic for us. And I’m sure you can imagine, with VF being the biggest apparel company in the world when you add the brands up, it’s an important topic overall. But for The North Face, you could argue we are closer to the environment in a way.
We’ve been careful over the years not to come out with to many sweeping statements and leave ourselves open to accusations of ‘greenwashing’. There are plenty of instances where it’s only one part of the operation that is more environmentally friendly, it’s not looking at the bigger picture.
We have massive efforts ongoing internally to tackle this topic in a bottom-up, real way. It’s very important for us, we want to work on it by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reduce operational waste in all our offices and facilities, and engage with communities to encourage everyone to do something toward the environment.
We have 200-plus products certified with bluesign, but we have not shouted about it because we believe these efforts need to be made in an holistic way, in a real way. It’s more than just having products certified.
NOVEMBER 2010 SGB OUTDOOR
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