Northface On EBay

ginericLC

Adventurer
What is the deal with all the North Face stuff on Ebay? Looks like a lot of it is coming out of Brazil. Is this genuine stuff? Most of the sellers have zero or no feedback.

I have a 4 year old Mountain Light Goretex Parka I need to replace. It is pretty weathered. I wear it year round for an everyday jacket and haul it all over by just tossing it in the cruiser. So I haven't given it the best care.

Any input on where to replace it? I'm looking for an awesome deal as this wasn't in our budget for this year.
 

Moody

Needs to get out more
I have seen a lot of fakes come from ebay. They look correct, but they aren't near the quality they are normally. My father in law bought some stuff in Thailand that -looks- good, but the seam tape is crappy, and just isn't the real deal.

Watch SierraTradingPost.com or mgear.com for some good sales...

Edit-

I bought a 'windstopper' NF jacket off of ebay for 55.00 a few years back. Zipper broke after a few months, seams started coming apart, etc. It wasn't legitimate.
 

6Pins

Adventurer
I would assume its fake and keep that in mind if I was inclined to place a bid. With times as difficult as they are right now, I'd look for a small, local shop and you can probably get a really good deal from them and know its the real deal.
 

mountainpete

Spamicus Eliminatus
North Face quality has seriously gone down hill. In fact Costco here is selling jackets now. I wouldn't doubt the products on eBay are real - just poor quality.

I second Sierra Trading Post. They have good deals on high quality lines like Mountain Hardware, Cloudveil (which I have barn coat from that I love), Patagonia and Exofficio.

Pete
 

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
Now that The North Face has been bought and sold and is no longer owned by mountaineering guys, the quality fo the clothing is junk. They still make some decent dedicated mountaineering equipment and you could argue that their Summit line is OK, but moslty I'd stay away from them if you do the kind of stuff where your safety depends on your gear.

If you just need a fleece or rain jacket to wear around town, it's probably OK. The only way that ebay stuff out of Brazil is real is if some pirates got ahold of a container and are selling of the loot.

Consumer goods in Brazil are very pricey so if it's real and not stolen, it should cost about double what it costs here.
 

dieselcruiserhead

16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
I second about being burned by a cheap imitation. I bought what looked to me to be a genuine authentic Northface pack in Nepal and it literally exploded. It was a really good knockoff too...
 

ginericLC

Adventurer
Well I found a guy in TX who had some new old stock. It is probably 5-6 years old. Gore tex, it is about a 1/3 of the price of a new one. I went ahead and decided to try it. If it is fake, back it goes, at least it is in the US. I think his story is legit as it is an odd color combo that probably wasn't popular back then. I guess I'm not going to be in my classic red/black anymore. I've worn red/black for at least 13 years maybe longer. My big problem with buying locally is I don't have any place I can buy decent gear that doesn't support the Sierra Club. I hate supporting organizations that work against me, so I boycott the businesses supporting them.
 

ginericLC

Adventurer
I backed out, I paid and all of a sudden all of his auctions disappeared. So I'm back to searching. I'll find a red/black one now I guess.
 

ginericLC

Adventurer
I've been looking at Sierra Trading Post. They don't have North Face anymore. I think I'll stop by their store the next time I'm in Boise and look in person. It seems like any good quality stuff I've bought in the past is now crap. I looked at a Dewalt DW402 grinder today. Made in China $95.00. In 2000 I bought the same grinder made in USA for $74. It has lasted well I just put new brushes in it last week. My North Face jacket has served me well. It is pretty worn and last weekend somehow I got into grease. So it stained really bad. Bad enough that my wife won't be seen with me in public. So I'm shopping! I hate shopping for clothes.
 

mountainpete

Spamicus Eliminatus
ginericLC said:
I've been looking at Sierra Trading Post. They don't have North Face anymore. I think I'll stop by their store the next time I'm in Boise and look in person.

The store in Reno is excellent. I happened to visit during one of their special event sales. Everything in the store was at least 20% off. I ended up with some nice Exofficio pants and a Mountain Hardware shirt - less then $50 for both.
 

Co-opski

Expedition Leader
Beyond Clothing has a nice goretex jacket still made in the US and they supply for the troops. Look into the L6 jacket. Pricey but think what you paid for that TNF jacket 15 yrs ago and make an investment in one for another 15-20 yrs.

http://beyondclothing.com/

BTW they do custom work.
 

lovetoski

Observer
DaveInDenver said:
TNF is owned by the same company that owns Reef, Eagle River, Jansport and some others. Also Wrangler, Lee, Vans.

http://www.vfc.com/

Mtn Hardware is owned by Columbia. Marmot is owned by Jarden. Arcteryx is owned by Amersports. Cloudveil is owned by Spyder - who's owned by Apex. None of this is bad in and of itself, actually it brings financial stability and business expertise to companies that were founded by enthusiasts. All of them still have lots of hard-core folks working there, people who care a lot about making great stuff.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,533
Messages
2,875,598
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top