The North Face Puts Its Best Face Forward and Snags a PETA Award

The North Face’s innovative new technology is making its customers—as well as geese—very happy.

The leader in outdoor apparel created a new state-of-the-art insulation called ThermoBall™ that is superior to down. The North Face is celebrating its new technology, saying, “ThermoBall™ insulates, packs and feels like down, but delivers total versatility. It provides uncompromising warmth even when wet, making it the new go-to jacket for any adventure.” And we love that The North Face is marketing it as “a new alternative to down.”

To honor this innovative technology, PETA created a new award and made The North Face its first-ever recipient. The company will receive the inaugural Innovator for Animals Award for perfectly demonstrating how this creative new cruelty-free material outperforms antiquated animal products while sparing geese the horrors of live-plucking, force-feeding, and slaughter.

ThermoBall™ has been a success with customers, too, which reflects the current industry trend away from down. A recent poll conducted on behalf of PETA found that 80 percent of outdoor enthusiasts are happy to choose products made with synthetic insulation over duck or goose down, and after learning that some birds used for down are force-fed for foie gras or plucked while they’re still alive, 88 percent said they would continue to shop at stores that don’t sell any down. Most people would prefer to be toasty warm and still be warmhearted to birds.