Why Does The North Face Suddenly Look Like Luxury?
There are very few original sentences left in the English language, but “the layering in this new North Face collection is giving Lemaire” feels ripe for inclusion.
Guided by the sharp eye of its longtime creative director, Eiichiro Homma, who also runs cult brand Nanamica, The North Face Purple Label has become a reliable source for laid-back but upscale takes on techwear, with last season’s “Mountain Ivy” collection combining preppy Ivy League garb with rugged outdoor clothing.
This season doesn’t disappoint. The Japan-exclusive sublabel’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection includes an update to its double-knee pants — fashion’s favorite silhouette, currently offered by everyone from Arc’teryx to Louis Vuitton — in a cotton/nylon blend, plus a fantastically blocky orange-checked field shirt and an adaptable plaid fleece cardigan that can be zipped into either the coat or the jacket.
It’s all relatively standard fare for a winter collection from an outdoor label, even one as elevated as Purple Label, but what sets apart this iteration on the usual insulated jackets, windproof parkas, hoodies, and sweatpants is the good that feels more aligned with the likes of Lemaire and AURALEE (or even a touch of LOEWE FW26, via the architectural layering of scarf-like jackets around the collar) than with a conventional adventure brand.
The lookbook’s best fits have a clear vision: One look ties a check cardigan over an understated nylon-twill field coat for a pop of personality, while another layermaxxes a beige mountain cardigan over a matching beige half-zip sweater — collar popped out — over a blue chambray field shirt, over a crisp white T-shirt, all tucked into matching beige corduroy field pants.
The North Face Purple Label’s sharper tailoring slots into a wider trend of outdoor and workwear brands refashioning themselves for the luxury realm (or vice versa), exemplified by Carhartt’s upscale Crafted Series and Loro Piana’s hiking range. And with so much sameness cluttering the fashion industry, the key to breaking out increasingly relies on the power of presentation: superstylists like Charlotte Collet have turned good taste into a steady stream of gigs architecting the image of major brands like AURALEE and Louis Vuitton.
As The North Face Purple Label’s new collection shows, it isn’t just what you wear but how you wear it.
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