The North Face makes a lot of great jackets. The North Face Japan makes even better jackets. In fact, The North Face Japan just released one of the best jackets it's ever made. Too bad no one can buy it.
Meet The North Face's Hydrena Storage Jacket, a one-off design created exclusively for The North Face Alter, a specialty TNF boutique located in Shibuya.
The Hydrena Storage Jacket is a revision of the rather ordinary Hydrena jacket, a throwback TNF design revived several times by The North Face Japan, which is itself operated by Japanese outdoor giant Goldwin (as opposed to VF Corp, which owns TNF throughout the world, except for Japan).
It is a veritable work of art: in either brown or black, TNF's Hydrena Storage Jacket features a high neck with retractable hood, wide body, handful of three-dimensional cargo pockets, zippered closure, and drawcords at the hem to adjust the fit. It's water- and wind-repellent and is lined in a mesh that heightens breathability.
In short, this may be the greatest The North Face jacket ever designed.
To describe the reaction that outdoor-obsessed dudes had to seeing the Hydrena Storage Jacket a few weeks after it released on November 3 is akin to recounting the scene in the capital city of a World Cup-winning country.
Thirsty comments ranged from all-caps declarations of desperate desire to bemoaning the jacket's lack of availability. And can you blame 'em? This thing is basically a ghost, its impromptu product shots practically focus-tested to stoke cravings.
If you weren't at that one The North Face store in Japan on the day these bad boys dropped, you had no chance of buying one at retail. Luckily for a few eagle-eyed Japanese fans, some Hydrena Storage Jackets did pop up secondhand for retail prices (¥47,000 or about $310) but they sold just as quickly.
I know there's a logistical nightmare that keeps TNF USA and TNF Japan separated, so much so that when coveted The North Face Purple Label line finally released overseas for a couple years it became a veritable event unto itself, but if anything could make the jump overseas it really oughta be this jacket. It's too good to not exist in greater numbers.
