Update: The North Face or The North Fake

The good news:  The North Face jacket I bought in Vietnam last year is still working just fine.  I’ve had the chance to test it in places other than my bathtub.  It still keeps water out, and it hasn’t fallen apart.  

The bad news:  The North Face backpack I also bought in Vietnam has not fared so well.  I bought both the backpack and the jacket at the same place.  Never mind that this place was a tarp-covered stall in a busy market.  I could tell by the zippers on the pack that it wasn’t nearly as nice as the one I could buy at REI for 10 times the price back home.  But I was swayed by the price - a grand total of $9.  I thought to myself, “So what if it falls apart in no time?”

Well, fall apart is exactly what it has done, and in less than a year of ownership.  I’ve only used it a handful of times, and pretty much every time I’ve used it, the usage has gone like this:

Pack bag with 2 changes of clothes and toiletries.

Throw bag in trunk of car.

Take bag inside tent/friend’s house.

Unpack, repack.

Throw bag in trunk of car.

Take bag inside my house.

Unpack.

So it’s not like I’ve taken this thing trekking on a glacier or the like.  But on the last car excursion, one of the shoulder straps separated itself wholly from the body of the pack.  Sure, I could have probably sewn it back together, but I decided it wasn’t worth putting that much time into a $9 backpack.

I did get one final use out of it, though.  It came in very handy when I cleaned out my closet, stuffed it full of junk, and hauled it to Goodwill. Sayonara, backpack. 

The North Face or The North Fake?

I didn't know that The North Face brand was manufactured in Vietnam until I began this month-long Asian adventure.  I also didn't know until I met up with friends in Bangkok that had just been in Vietnam that North Face gear can be purchased very cheaply in Vietnam.  So while in Sapa, I bought both a backpack and a Gore-Tex rain coat complete with a zip-in fleece for next to nothing.  However, I heard conflicting reports on the gear from various sources throughout the trip.  These are the three things that I was told:

1.  North Face gear sold in Vietnam is the real deal - it's just cheap because it's manufactured in-country.
2.  North Face gear sold in Vietnam is the real deal - but what you can find is only sold in Vietnam because it has a defect or few.
3.  It's all counterfeit crap from China.

Hmmm.   Did I buy something real (albeit possibly imperfect) or did I just pad some Chinese pockets and end up with something that will fall apart and/or leave me soaking wet in my moment of need?  I gave the once-over to the backpack first.  All the zippers worked, the straps worked, and the stitching, fabric, and straps seemed sturdy enough.  The only flaw I found was with the rain cover, which didn't seem to fit over the backpack very well.  Well, shoot, if that's the only defect I can find, then I can live with that.  I paid $9 for that pack.

I picked over the jacket next.  Zippers work ok?  Yep.  Snaps actually close?  Sure do.  Seams strong enough?  They survived a frantic flailing-fest around the room, which seemed like a legitimate test to me.   But was it waterproof?  I didn't have it with me during any of the monsoon rains we got caught in throughout the trip, and there is no such thing as monsoon season in the US (I'm not going to wait for a chance hurricane to come through for me to not only test the jacket, but test my ability to not get blown down the street).  So I came up with an alternative - the shower.

Yes, I donned the jacket and jumped in the shower.  What, do you have a better idea?

Well, throw me down and call me Sally.  It's waterproof!  Maybe it really is made of Gore-Tex, after all. So after my Super Much Thorough and Scientifically Proven test, I have concluded that the truth is....  #2.  Real but defective.  I can easily live with that.  Now - who wants to go camping?

Update:  check out what happened to my North Face backpack here.