Is The North Face's Red Box Collection Purple Label for North America?

What Is The North Face Red Box?

In its early days in the late 1960s, The North Face's goal was to outfit adventurers: backpackers, campers, climbers, alpinists. The Red Box Collection is geared toward not-so-hardcore outdoor folks like myself who live in colder climates and appreciate a reversible fleece or an insane down-filled puffy jacket. The line puts that heritage through a premium lens with rugby polos, liner jackets, and packable wind pants made for everyday life. The duality of the collection toes the line between coffee in Greenpoint and spending a few nights at Apgar Campground in Glacier National Park.

I identify more closely with the former. The piece that first hooked me on the sub-label was the TNF Red Box Down Jacket. It’s intentionally oversized, allowing you to layer a half-zip fleece underneath. Meanwhile, The North Face’s patented wind-resistant WINDWALL fabric and 700-fill-power down provide the same warmth as the iconic ’96 Nuptse puffy jacket. That jacket's combination of functionality within a design that blends into everyday life is what helped spark the launch of the Red Box Collection.

David Whetstone, The North Face’s design director of global collaborations, tells Field Mag that “The goal was to create a distinct position that could hold the off-mountain side of the brand together under one aesthetic direction.”

Mining the Archive

Whetstone sees heritage as a source of inspiration rather than something to be directly reproduced. According to him, the company's founding era in the late ’60s and early ’70s informed the development of Red Box. “We’re inspired by familiar elements, colors, and iconography, allowing us to reflect on the feeling of The North Face’s past, reimagined for now,” he says.

The historical references are broad and specific. There are fleeces that deliver the insulation of the brand’s popular Denali jackets, which debuted in 1988, reimagined in noticeably boxier half-zip silhouettes. They come in a range of playful colors, including cardinal red, TNF blue, and one of Whetstone’s favorites: a grounded plum inspired by a 1989 catalog print.

“The print comes from that year’s catalog cover featuring a sunset on the Western Cwm at Camp 2, Mount Everest, shot by Chris Noble,” Whetstone says.

Whetstone and his team wanted to bring together materials and details from the brand’s origins with the warmth, contrast, and attitude found in its ’90s silhouettes and material choices. Examples of this throwback trifecta are apparent in The Red Box’s exaggerated drop-shoulder hoodie and its down jacket, which shares the same shape as the classic Nuptse. “When you see a vintage TNF product from that era, a nice patina has developed,” he adds.

Elevating the Everyday Through Materials

Another one of my favorite pieces from the collection is the Liner Jacket, an easy wind-resistant layering piece that can withstand temperatures of about 30 degrees and above. With its recognizable windowpane baffle and voluminous silhouette, it carries the brand’s heritage but feels like a more modern lifestyle-oriented piece. Unlike in some of the brands more affordable everyday pieces, an elevated fabrication that sets it apart: the jacket is made of an ultralight ripstop with both matte and shiny finishes across its reversible sides, drawing inspiration from materials originally used in The North Face’s expedition-grade Summit Series.

“The idea of taking a lifestyle silhouette or archetype and elevating the materialization represents the spirit of TNF Red Box,” Whetstone says. Products like the Nylon Fleece-Lined Jacket and Full-Zip Pants use the brand's patented WINDWALL tech, found in most of its insulated outerwear, along with recycled nylon and non-PFC durable water-repellent finishes.

So Is Red Box the Same as Purple Label?

It'd be easy to draw a dotted line between Red Box and The North Face Purple Label. Both are style-focused; both take the basic TNF square logo and give it a new color. But as a collaboration and exclusive line created with the Japanese technical apparel brand Nanamica, that line is pretty easy to wipe away. There are some similar ideas, but Red Box is not particularly influenced by Japan.

Instead, the approach is similar in its use of subtle cues, one of the most recognizable being its discreet branding. On most TNF jackets and fleeces, you’ll typically see the iconic Half Dome logo on the left chest or back shoulder. For the TNF Red Box line, however, the branding appears in smaller placements, such as on the left wrist, or in tonal applications, like on the new Millerain hats.

Where Red Box Goes Next

A year after its launch, Red Box feels more focused than ever, with 74 products spanning men’s, women’s, and unisex offerings. While it isn’t a direct copy-paste of The North Face Purple Label, Red Box occupies a similar space between technical performance and everyday style. The distinction lies in how each collection approaches that balance: Purple Label has developed a distinct identity through its Japanese design sensibility, while Red Box draws more directly from The North Face’s own heritage, reworking archival references for a contemporary audience.

Whether intentional or not, Red Box suggests an effort to bring some of that same design-minded approach to the North American market, giving the brand’s history a more lifestyle-oriented expression without losing sight of its outdoor roots.

As Whetstone puts it, “We’re at our best when this duality exists within a product or story; with Red Box, we’re looking forward to continuing to explore this dichotomy.” With its growing assortment, the sub-label’s challenge will be to turn that tension between heritage and modernity into a clear, lasting identity of its own.

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