New The North Face Initiative Pledges $7m To Address Inequity In Outoor Sports

The North Face has launched a new global initiative “Reset Normal,” to encourage people to ‘reset’ their lives through exploration, and has pledged $7 million (£5.4 million) to organisations who commit to ‘building equity in the outdoors and creating opportunities for all’.

As part of this initiative, the brand will launch the Explore Fund Council – as part of its long-standing Explore Fund – a global fellowship with the goal of bringing together experts across culture, entertainment, academia and the outdoors to develop ideas and potential solutions to help support access to exploration.

The program will launch with the help of two of the brand’s ambassadors, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, producer and actor Lena Waithe, and athlete, climber and Academy Award-winning director Jimmy Chin, who will work alongside additional creatives, academic experts, and outdoor industry partners, to collectively develop ideas to help create meaningful change.

The North Face says its athletes and ambassadors will also be tasked with creating personal pledge videos that share their individual stories and aspirations about how they would like to reset their normal in 2020. The brand says it will also release shareable Instagram AR lenses and TikTok filters to encourage people everywhere to get involved and share how they pledge to reset their normal in 2020.  

“For ten years, we’ve been working to reset the barriers to exploration and make it more accessible for all through our Explore Fund,” said Steve Lesnard, Global VP, Marketing and Product, The North Face. 

“But 2020 has proven we need to radically accelerate that work and collaborate with a broad-reaching community to help us do so. We’re really excited to work alongside changemakers like Lena and Jimmy, and I believe the Explore Fund Council will help us foster a new, more equitable era for the outdoor industry.” 

The North Face says it plans to have the full Explore Fund Council group of fellows in place and announced in Spring 2021.