The Nuptse down jacket by The North Face is the most desired item in the world

For the first time ever, The North Face's Nuptse down jacket topped the rankings of the most desired products for both men and women according to Lyst, the leading search engine in the fashion world, which published the 2021 Lyst Index report for the last quarter of the year just ended, collecting and analyzing the most desired brands and products by the consumers. In the last three months of 2020, in fact, puffer jackets and in particular the famous Nuptse have experienced a 174% increase in online searches, followed by slippers and slides with Birkenstock in the lead, with UGG boots in third place in the rankings. 

The success of The North Face's Nuptse down jacket is due to a series of factors: firstly, the increase in walks and outdoor encounters that have taken place with the lockdown; then the gorpcore trend, which rode the wave of 90s nostalgia and materialised in the Gucci x The North Face collaboration made available from 2021 and, finally, the continuous endorsement of stars and influencers on social media. The importance of the Nuptse Jacket, however, lies in its status as a trans-cultural object – that is, a garment that is not defined by the subculture that appropriates it but adapts in a versatile way to each social group. 

After its debut in 1992, in fact, the Nuptse Jacket initially became popular among the hikers and climbers for whom it was designed, but soon spread to the streets of New York and its hip-hop scene, initially as protection from the freezing cold but then as a uniform of the cool kids of the city together with Timberland boots and oversized dresses by Polo Sports. It was during this period that the jacket passed from hip-hop culture to the skateboarding scene, becoming a regular presence even among the regulars of the very first Supreme store. Finally, the street cred accumulated on the New York scene increased its fascination for college students who welcomed it into preppy circles along with Tupac's music.

When the young creatives who had initially adopted Nuptse grew up and became designers and buyers, the jacket rightly entered the annals of fashion and The North Face, initially born as a performance brand, ended up collaborating with fashion houses such as Gucci, Maison Margiela, Supreme, Brain Dead and Comme des Garçons. The key to its success is the democratic nature of its design and the transversality of its offer, which remains able to speak both to consumers more aware of design and to those interested in the practicality and performance of an item alone.