The North Face Increases “Clothes the Loop” Recycling

The North Face recently announced the expansion of its apparel and footwear recycling program. The company’s “Clothes The Loop” program will now be available in more than half of its retail store locations across the nation. Clothes The Loop is now available in a total of 27 The North Face stores nationwide.

The program diverts thousands of pounds of apparel and footwear from landfills. It also enables consumers to recycle their unused clothing and shoes, moving these items into a continuous closed loop product cycle thus reducing waste, preserving material resources, protecting the environment and enabling sustainable consumption. Items are either reused or reverted back to basic materials for manufacturing.

Last year the North Face pilot program succeeded in diverting 1,350 lbs of apparel and footwear away from landfills.


The expansion comes in conjunction with The North Face brand’s support of the City of San Francisco and I:CO’s mutual goal to reach 100 percent closed loop recycling of unwanted apparel and footwear by 2020, helping to get San Francisco closer to being a zero waste city.

“Protecting our natural playgrounds – both urban and beyond – is part of our heritage at The North Face and an imperative for us to continue to succeed as a business. We launched Clothes The Loop a year ago to provide an “end of use” recycling solution for apparel and footwear and we have seen fantastic results,” said Adam Mott, The North Face, Corporate Sustainability Senior Manager. “We are proud to stand with the City of San Francisco and I:CO, as well as other committed retailers, to give consumers the opportunity to recycle apparel and footwear that is no longer being used.”

Apparel and footwear contributions automatically earn customers one discount voucher of $10 per day to be used towards purchase of The North Face products. Items collected through Clothes The Loop are sent to an I:CO recycling center where they are sorted into more than 400 categories and designated either to be resold or recycled into raw materials such as insulation, carpet padding and stuffing for toys. The North Face will donate proceeds accrued through Clothes the Loop to The Conservation Alliance, which funds community-based campaigns to protect outdoor areas for their habitat and recreation values.

The North Face products are guaranteed for life and they are also a founding member of the Conservation Alliance which celebrates its 25th year of operation in 2014.

For more information about “Clothes The Loop” or The North Face’s partnership with I:CO, please click here.

© 2014, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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