Say what you want about Junya Watanabe, but the man knows his way around a jacket. Over the years, the Japanese designer has chopped up, spliced together and reconfigured everything from Levi’s denim to Carhartt workwear. Now, through his eYe JUNYA WATANABE MAN label, he’s turned his attention back to outdoor gear. More specifically, The North Face.
Junya Watanabe and The North Face have reunited for their first global collaboration since 2017, producing a tightly edited capsule consisting of just two pieces. No filler here. Just a reworked Mountain Jacket and an MA-1-style bomber, both of which take familiar utilitarian silhouettes and push them somewhere more unusual.
The headline piece is the Tech Vest Mountain Jacket. It takes The North Face’s instantly recognisable technical shell and combines it with a vintage Search and Rescue vest, essentially turning specialist emergency equipment into part of the jacket’s structure. The result is characteristically Watanabe: busy, heavily pocketed and slightly off-beat, but still recognisable as the practical outdoor garment underneath.
Then there’s the Bomber Jacket, which feels like the more wearable of the pair. It combines Watanabe’s take on the classic MA-1 flight jacket with The North Face’s waterproof DryVent fabric, bringing modern weather protection to a true outerwear classic. Details include a two-way front zip, elasticated cuffs and hem, multiple pockets and subtle co-branding.
It’s a combination that makes plenty of sense right now. Technical outdoor clothing has become a permanent fixture in everyday menswear, while Watanabe has spent decades demonstrating how much mileage there is in pulling apart established workwear and military designs and rebuilding them in unexpected ways. This collaboration sits right at the intersection where those two worlds meet.
The Junya Watanabe and The North Face collection launched in Europe and Asia on 20 August, followed by the US on 27 August, and both jackets are available now in limited quantities through The North Face and selected retailers.
