The North Face & Online Ceramics Keep on GORPin'
Whatever the current state of the GORPcore movement, you can count on Online Ceramics for a good time. And when you bring in The North Face? Now you've got a reason to take a hike.
Though not strictly a GORP brand itself — insofar as it doesn't make hiking boots or GORE-TEX shell jackets — Online Ceramics is still GORP-adjacent. Founded in 2016, the LA-based clothing line specializes in charmingly unironic hippie T-shirts printed with Grateful Dead references and tree-huggin' idioms that read like Walt Whitman with a Twitter account, channeling the naturalist vibes of '60s flower children.
So it's appropriate that for its second collaboration with The North Face, Online Ceramics goes full retro GORP, channeling the climbing culture that birthed The North Face itself.
“When The North Face was founded in 1966, camping was still a more fringe activity for those looking to escape through the peace and calm of the outdoors,” David Whetstone, Senior Designer of Collaborations and Special Projects at The North Face, said in a statement.
Online Ceramics is all about peace and calm, you know, but climbing is no longer an outsider art — it's in the freakin' Olympics!
Thus, the timeless TNF bits that Online Ceramics picked out for its new collaboration, which include weather-resistant Denali parkas, lightweight Windjammer pullovers, a Brimmer Hat, and Basecamp Box, are perhaps even more multipurpose now than they were over a half-century ago.
There are also some contemporary twists on the classics, of course: the Online Ceramics x TNF packable blanket is made of insulating Polartec fleece, for instance, and some of the boxy T-shirts are cut cropped for a contemporary shape on a summer staple.
All of the Online Ceramics stuff is gonna be available on The North Face's website for XPLR Pass members and "select" TNF stores from June 23, all from $50-$330.
It's nice to see some throwback TNF gear even as the outdoor label charges into a brave new future, dishing jewelry collections, collaborative timepieces, and dynamic clothing lines designed for the future.
This stuff looks as good now as it did back then. Maybe that's why GORPcore will never die: good looks never go out of style. Keep on truckin'
