CDG x The North Face Is Less Streetwear, More Hiking Gear
The North Face and CDG, COMME des GARÇONS' streetwear-leaning sub-label, first partnered almost exactly one year ago for a collaborative collection heavy on streetwear cues — big logos simple shapes, monochrome colors.
But for The North Face x CDG round two, things take a turn for the adventurous. Well, kinda.
You've still got no-brainer TNF and CDG branding but also a handful of at least slightly more elevated items that are a little bit The North Face, a little bit COMME des GARÇONS.
The key piece here is a military liner-style collarless jacket, padded and pocketed. It's genuinely cool and imminently wearable, with cues that more than slightly recall the utilitarian design language of Junya Watanabe and CDG HOMME.
But the shell jackets and half-zip fleeces ain't no slouch either, both being juuuust singular enough to retain a certain level of distinction from more ordinary fare. But, otherwise, the collection is indeed quite ordinary, with a handful of co-branded TNF x CDG T-shirts.
Still, this collection is more directional than its predecessor, what with the more technical layering pieces and army green accents. The logos are a bit more discreet, the clothes are a bit more developed. Baby steps.
Launching September 19 on The North Face's site, CDG's web store and DSM locations, TNF x CDG part deux is a sort of throwback to a simpler time, when a good streetwear collab was simple clothes adorned with obvious logos.
This fits in line with the oeuvre of CDG, a graphic-first COMME des GARÇONS diffusion imprint primarily sold at Dover Street Market stores as a sort of affordable souvenir (visit a boutique, take home a printed tee!).
It's a more streetwear-inclined offering than CdG Play, CDG's forebear, which has established decades-long relevance by being as purposely plain as possible, so much so that a couple gold studs are a sorta big deal.
No surprise that, when it was CdG Play's turn for a TNF collab, the result wasn't all that much more out-there than what CDG cooked up. But that's okay — this is simple stuff by design.
