Go Behind the Scenes of Gucci and The North Face's All-Star Collaboration

Already one of 2021’s landmark collaborations, Gucci and The North Face‘s unexpected seasonal team-up further erodes the barely-visible lines of luxury and streetwear, comprising a vast assortment of diverse adventure gear and accessories. To commemorate the joint effort, Gucci has enlisted artist Sean Vegezzi to briefly document the partnership’s creative process.

Clearly, each company sought to infuse the project with their own ideals in an organic melding of minds. “The goal is to expose people from the other set to a new idea and a new … way of thinking,” explains David Whetstone, design manager for global collaborations, archives and special projects at The North Face, in the clip.

As evidenced by brief shots of the Italian Dolomite mountain range to America’s Sierra Nevada, fans of both labels don’t just want to merely trek — they want to take to the hills in comfort and style. “It’s a culture of creation in a garment itself,” says pro climber Nina Williams. “These clothes are beautiful, these clothes are capable,” Whetstone affirms.

Alongside footage of each mountain range and action shots of contributors Williams and graffiti artist Post AOW, the short film highlights the natural hybridization of the collaboration. Sure, these garments draw from The North Face’s legacy of elegant functionality, but they’re also made in Italy to Gucci’s exacting standards of quality, bolstered by creative director Alessandro Michele’s world-famous sense of whimsy. “I believe that all clothes have shamanic powers, actually,” Michele says.

Gucci x The North Face launches January 6 at Gucci Pin pop-up locations in Brooklyn, downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto before launching online and at select flagships later this month.

This isn’t Gucci’s only headline-worthy collaboration: the luxury fashion label recently introduced an expansive Doraemon collaboration.