Posted on 03/17/2021 10:37:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
It started with a nice gesture. Adam Anderson, the CEO of Innovex Downhole Solutions, wanted to buy his employees a Christmas gift. So he ordered 400 North Face jackets and asked that their corporate logo be included.
Then came the bad news. The North Face company would sell Innovex the jackets but wouldn't include the energy company's logo. The reason? Innovex was an oil and gas company, and it would be a bad thing for North Face's public image to associate itself with the industry.
Not happy with that answer, Anderson struck back with some public relations of his own. It turns out the vast majority of North Face's apparel—its hoodies, snow pants, coats and many other items in its product line, like backpacks and tents—are made with polyester, polyurethane and nylon, all of which come from petroleum. Even its fancy fleece jackets are made of polyester.
"The irony in this statement is that your jackets are made from oil and gas products the hardworking men and women of our industry produce," Anderson noted in a letter he sent to Steve Rendle, CEO of VF Corp. (which includes the North Face brand), on LinkedIn. "I think this stance by your company is counter-productive virtue signaling, and I would appreciate you re-considering this stance."
Anderson wasn't finished. "We should be celebrating the benefits of what oil and gas do to enable the outdoors lifestyle your brands embrace," Anderson concluded. "Without Oil and Gas there would be no market for nor ability to create the products your company sells."
Anderson's letter went viral. The North Face PR team went underground. Their real-life dependency on oil wasn't part of their global branding efforts.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
They focus so heavily on automobiles that when the truth breadth of oil’s scope comes to light, suddenly panic sets in.
so buy jackets from someone else.....money talks
Incredible that people so stupid should be responsible for a large company.
Remember when North Face sued a company called South Butt?
Yeah, it's sorta like Biden running the US economy, only a billion times worse.
I would. But it was still a good smack-down of a company that could not defend its idiotic position.
Anyone seen the list of products that are net zero carbon from southbutt?
LOL! Posted #8 before I saw yours.
Good article and well worth reading.
Can’t believe it made it past the editors of Newsweek.
Thanks for posting. Sheesh.
And the kids got me a The North Face winter jacket. Green 550 model...detachable snapped fur-lined hood...built in face-mask...drawstring...4 pockets in front...one on left arm...XL / TG...warmest winter jacket i’ve ever had...made in Vietnam...MSRP $299.
I was thinking the same thing................
VF Corp owns North Face, Vans, Dickies, Timberland - boycott them all. I hate green-washing, “woke” hypocrites.
And it’s not just in one place, either.
Probably cost less than $25 to make......................
FYI some just now research...
HAHAHA! Northface deserves the beating.
You can never go wrong with a baby sealskin jacket.
I can just hear Thomas Sowell (or Milton Friedman) taking part in this conversation with the CEO of North Face:
SOWELL: Why would you refuse to brand your North Face gear with the Innovex Downhole Solutions company logo, as you advertise you will, and readily do on gear ordered by other companies.
NORTH FACE CEO: It goes against our environmental image, and we don't want to be seen as collaborating with oil companies or the implicit approval of petroleum products by doing so.
SOWELL: Really? I was just curious, how do you get your products to market? Aren't they sent to market by ships burning fossil fuels, aircraft burning fossil fuels, and trucks run on fossil fuels?
NORTH FACE CEO: We, uh, pay carbon credits to, uh...compensate...
SOWELL: I didn't know that. Can you provide the name of a company who you purchased them from?
NORTH FACE CEO: I don't have that at my fingertips...I'll, uh, have to circle back on that...
SOWELL: And don't you have factories in Communist China, who has been the biggest emitter of CO2 emissions for years? Do you purchase carbon credits to offset the pollution there?
NORTH FACE CEO: I'll have one of my aides contact you with that information. But the point is, drilling for oil is not good for the earth, and we don't want to be seen supporting oil exploration.
SOWELL: Aren't the vast majority of North Face's apparel—its hoodies, snow pants, coats and many other items in its product line, like backpacks and tents—made with polyester, polyurethane and nylon, all of which come from petroleum. Even your fancy North Face fleece jackets are made of polyester. Are you paying for carbon offsets on those as well? And even if you are, if you fight oil drilling and exploration, that will drive the cost of nearly everything in your already extremely expensive product line?
NORTH FACE CEO: We, uh...we're ah, committed to...uh, fighting corporate greed, and...global warming...
SOWELL: Ah...I see. Much like Arreck Bahlwin in "Team America"!
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