When The North Face marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary Mountain Jacket in 2025, both the world of mountains and the fashion world take a moment to remember the amazing journey of the iconic piece of outerwear. What started out as an utilitarian garment to protect you from the worst mountain weathers is now a lifestyle and fashion symbol, as cool on the mountain as in the city. It was a fascinating tale of the four decades spent reworking and reinventing The North Face's Mountain Jacket, a product that had somehow improbably found itself further out of doors, deeper down a totally different path, than almost any other outdoor product we'd ever heard of.

Original Mountain Jacket was born in 1985 out of our pursuit of the most responsive, the most durable, the lightest collection of men's technical outerwear for the most committed alpinists. This was a time of great technological upheaval in outdoor gear, shifting from heavy, unwieldy materials to lighter and more breathable fabrics. The jacket also used Gore-Tex fabric at a time when it was still a technological breakthrough, giving the athletes who wore it some water- proofing without trapping in the vapor from their sweat, an important consideration for a mountain runner competing at high intensity in an unforgiving environment.

What made the Mountain Jacket different from other technical shells was its careful mix of durability and mobility. The North Face designers knew that alpinists demanded protection from the elements and the freedom to move over technical terrain with equal ease. The Jacket was designed with these facts in mind, and featured durable shoulders and elbow for abrasion, but also seams that were placed in such a way as not to hinder movement. Its attention-grabbing original colorways, a vibrant blue, red or yellow, were practical, ensuring that climbers were visible in the snow, but these colors would also go on to become a part of the jacket's street-wear allure.

As the 1990s unfolded the Mountain Jacket started to surface in some unlikely situations. Hip-hop artists and city kids embraced the jacket, attracted not only to its tech-y look, but its bright color combinations as well. The North Face was accidentally at the juncture of performance outdoor wear and street fashion, a balance that would come to shape a lot of what the brand was to become.

The North Face started to update their seminal silhouette, the Mountain Jacket, to make it more up to date performing wise, but keeping it looking just as we know the it. New fabric technologies, such as HyVent and Futurelight, delivered and then some on breathability and waterproofing. The company dabbled with various permutations — lighter models for fast-and-light alpinism, heavier duty models for expedition use — but always retained the essential DNA of the original.

From the 2010s, as outdoor aesthetic started to govern the mainstream fashion, the Mountain Jacket was re-interpreted by high-end designers. On the runway, designers sent glossed-up versions of the technical shell down the runway; on the street, street-wear brands made their own odes. The North Face also paired with high-fashion names, producing hybrid garments that mingled couture sensibilities with outdoorsy function. At all these iterations and adaptations the Mountain Jacket stayed true to its roots, it was never just a fashion piece but rather an influence on fashion whilst never losing sight of its technical heritage.

The 2025 40th anniversary edition Mountain Jacket takes both inspiration from, and heritage, from that original. With the advent of modern production methods, companies can take their pick of almost seams to construct reinforcement, which in turn makes a huge difference when looking to streamline and enhance a board's movement. Today's waterproof membranes are stronger than ever and offer protection that exceeds 1985's standards, yet are still breathable enough to suit extreme activity.

On the occasion of marking 40 years, the Mountain Jacket powers forward as a homage to the longevity of considered design. Conceived at a time of fast fashion and throwaway consumerism, its ongoing relevance is a reminder that the best design can be so clever it solves problems not just innovatively but also endlessly, for posterity.