The North Face's Denali Jacket Hit Icon Status in '95—And Stayed There Ever Since
SHOP $199, thenorthface.com
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You might've noticed things are looking a whole lot fleecier as of late. The fabric's everywhere. Hell, we're all practically drowning in piles of it. (Fleece puns!) Even before global lockdown orders made cozy living a near mandate, it'd be hard to drop an artisinally made macchiato without spilling it on a fleece clad banker bro or a similarly fleece-obsessed fashion fanatic. Today, you can snag a fleece jacket from just about any brand under the sun. Kapital, the Japanese label famous for its irreverent send-ups of classic Americana, routinely sells 'em in trippy Damask patterns the internet positively flips out over. (Ditto nearly every other brand you care to name, though often sans the zany prints.)
Fashion soothsaying is a notoriously tricky business, but when it comes to the fleece's resurgence, I ain't all that surprised. When I was in elementary school way back when, the coolest damn piece you could own was a fleece jacket, not unlike any of the styles circulating today. The brand du jour behind one of the absolute sickest versions of the silhouette? You guessed it, baby: The North Face.
And since time is truly a flat circle (and everything you hated wearing as a kid suddenly looks ludicrously fire right now), it stands to reason if you're trying to log onto your next Zoom call with the confidence of the slickest shithead in my 8th grade class, the brand's Retro '95 Denali is just the jacket for you. Here's why.
It oozes retro charm.
Nostalgia is every fashion lover's true Achilles' heel. Why? Who knows. (More important, who cares?!) Give in to it. Accept your role as a mere pawn in the industry's plan to separate you from your hard-earned dollars by infusing every "must-have" seasonal item with a tantalizing whiff of childhood memories, and then promptly fork over the money for a fleece of your own. If you're going to spring for one regardless, why not buy a fleece that deftly straddles the line between throwback good looks and a silhouette designed for the here and now? And in a fiery shade of cadmium red, no one's going to mistake it for the sort of little-loved hand-me-down you used to feel compelled to wear every time you saw the cousin who sent it your way.
SHOP $199, thenorthface.com
It's from a brand with unimpeachable fleece bona fides.
When it comes to buying your first—or fifteenth!—fleece who're you going to trust: the smarmy brand that hopped on the bandwagon earlier this year to make a fast buck or the guys who've been doing it since '95, long before fleece was but a twinkle in your favorite designer's eye? The North Face has been churning out these bad boys for two and a half decades now, and it shows. Unlike the sitting president, the brand's fleece bona fides are...unimpeachable. (Zing!) Which means its options are always a safe bet.
It's functional as all hell.
The North Face is no stranger to crafting durable outdoorsy gear ready-made to withstand the worst of the elements. But there's something about the fundamental functionality of its OG 1995 silhouette that really hits different right now, no matter how conducive to hardcore lounging its perfectly relaxed fit seems. The current iteration of the Denali fleece boasts underarm gussets and pit-zip venting to let you cool off, bungee cinch adjustability to warm you back up, and zip-in compatibility so it pairs with The North Face Mountain and Mountain Lite jackets as an inner liner. (Y'know, just in case.) All that—and a 100% recycled polyester body, to boot—adds up to a jacket that's more than capable of helping you brave the great outdoors, or keep you company while you watch Bear Grylls brave the great outdoors and get, ahem, high as fuck on the couch instead.
SHOP $199, thenorthface.com
Photography and prop styling by Allie Holloway
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