The North Face is owned by VF Corporation (the United States, NYSE: VFC), which acquired the brand on 1 May 2000.[1][2] The North Face was founded in 1966 in San Francisco, California and was independent until 2000.
The North Face was founded as a San Francisco climbing shop in 1966 and named for the coldest, hardest side of a mountain. Its half-dome logo traces the outline of Half Dome in Yosemite. VF acquired the brand in 2000 and it is now its largest.
What VF Corporation's annual report says about The North Face
Sentences about The North Face from VF Corporation's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
The North Face brand features performance and performance-inspired apparel, outerwear, sportswear and footwear for men, women and children.
Many of The North Face products are designed for extreme winter sport activities, such as high altitude mountaineering, skiing, snowboarding, and ice climbing.
The North Face products are marketed globally, primarily through specialty outdoor and premium sporting goods stores, department stores, independent distributors, independently-operated partnership stores, concession retail stores, 286 VF-operated stores, on websites with strategic digital partners and online at www.thenorthface.com.
How often VF Corporation names The North Face in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
VF Corporation is a publicly listed company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States, founded in 1899. Brandtree records 7 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: VFC.
VF Corporation began in 1899 as a Pennsylvania glove maker and became one of the largest apparel groups in the world by acquiring outdoor, workwear and denim brands. It spun off its jeans business as Kontoor Brands in 2019, taking Lee and Wrangler out of the portfolio.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,550 brands that began in the United States.
479 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; The North Face is not one of them.
VF Corporation acquired The North Face, which had been founded as a San Francisco climbing shop in 1966 and was in financial difficulty. It became one of the largest outdoor brands in the world under VF ownership.
The parent company of The North Face is VF Corporation, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is The North Face American?
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Yes. The North Face originated in the United States in 1966 and its owner, VF Corporation, is also headquartered in the United States.
When did VF Corporation buy The North Face?
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VF Corporation completed its acquisition of The North Face on 1 May 2000, after announcing the deal on 10 April 2000. The price was not disclosed.
Who owned The North Face before VF Corporation?
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The North Face was an independent company from its founding in 1966 in San Francisco, California until VF Corporation acquired it in 2000.
Is The North Face still owned by VF Corporation?
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Yes. As of 9 October 2026, The North Face is still owned by VF Corporation. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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