The North Face vs Patagonia - Rescue Mission | 5

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s the late 1990s and The North Face is seeking to attract mainstream customers by opening hundreds of Summit Shops within the nation’s stores.

But when the expected avalanche of sales fails to materialize, the company finds itself slipping over the edge.

Meanwhile, Patagonia steps up its mission to become a responsible company by tapping into the latest in textile tech.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music.
0:04.8	Download the app today.
0:07.0	It's a Saturday in August 1997, and in Oak Claire, Wisconsin, the Oakwood malls just
0:20.8	open for business.
0:22.6	Shoppers drift down polished corridors as a suite of Roma wafes from the original cookie
0:27.3	company store.
0:29.2	But today is no ordinary day at the mall.
0:31.6	For inside, sheels all sport.
0:34.2	It's opening day for the mall's latest attraction, a North Face Summit Shop.
0:39.8	The Summit Shop is a store within a store.
0:42.8	500 square feet of North Face Gear underneath the company's new slogan, Never Stop Exploring.
0:48.8	And it doesn't take long before the mall rats of Oak Claire are homing in on the shrine
0:53.3	to outdoor wear.
0:54.5	Oh my God, they've got a Summit Shop now.
0:58.6	More manager Derek Rees turns to see a college freshman in a macula $300 North Face
1:03.0	range racket.
1:04.3	She starts flicking through the racks of tech wear shirts made from quick drying nylon.
1:09.5	Never stop exploring?
1:11.4	More like never started, but she's exactly the consumer the Summit Shop is designed to
1:16.8	snare.
1:17.8	10 years ago, only serious mountaineers wore North Face Gear.
1:22.2	Now, they're the minority.
	...

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