I tend to fall in to the group that wouldn’t take the new North Face stuff on the trail. I do have to admit that a lot of that feeling is because I remember when TNF was what we all aspired to own: great tents, outstanding backpacks (Dana Design was the only one in their league), and sleeping bags (revered in the way we feel about Western Mountaineering today.)

Then they quite making gear and the clothing side sold out to the college-campus, outdoorsy-look wannabes fashion trend, and for quite a while, their stuff was junk - lots of cotton, fashion-first design that looked great. I’ve heard they’re getting better.

Eventually, they re-entered the outdoor gear market, and tried to step up their clothing game. I had a friend who bought one of their half-a-rainfly tents; it failed miserably in the first night of showers. I talked to people who found their backpacks uncomfortable, and their sleeping bag ratings optimistic (to put it mildly.) I’ve heard they’ve gotten better.

My own clothing evaluation is that they’re now offering items that are built to take outdoors, but that are missing details. I’ve seen “down” (mostly duck) vests that don’t have elastic armholes and that use snaps instead of zippers, and sweater/jackets with no adjustment to tighten the hood around your face.

Can you make their stuff work? Probably, and in fair weather it may work great. I’m still not confident enough that I’d take it on a trip where I had to rely on it. They do seem to be getting better, though. (For what it’s worth, I feel the same about Eddie Bauer, Columbia, and LL Bean. Eddie Bauer is totally fashion; Columbia is great if you ski, not so much backpacking; LL Bean is good stuff, but heavy and mostly for car-camping.)

I still keep looking at what they offer; it’s just not what it used to be (and you might be well-advised to ignore that particular bias.)