Red Face
I see via columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin that North Face has decided to sell "vintage" jackets celebrating the memory of the Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (CCCP), or at the rest of us like to call it, the USSR.
Quite a country, the USSR. It started via a revolution in 1917 where Czar Nicolas and his family were murdered by thugs loyal to Lenin. Stalin came to power after Lenin's death, and in 1939, signed a non-aggression pact with the Nazis. It didn't last long, however, and in 1941 they were in a war that saw tens of millions of Soviet boys and girls forced into combat, sometimes unarmed, often with an officer's pistol aimed at the back of their heads. Millions of them were cut down by either German machine guns or their own officers. Before, During, and after the Second World War, the CCCP killed tens of millions in Joseph Stalin's gulags, and when Nikita Kruschev ran the country, he spoke to each and every American, "we will bury you." How lovely a sentiment to promote to America's youth. Tens of millions of more people in eastern European countries were crushed under the weight of the Iron Curtain, their human rights stripped away as mass graves filled in periodic purges. Unknown thousands died over the decades trying to flee this tyranny, gunned down by their own soldiers for trying to escape to the west and freedom. You celebrate it with a "trendy" jacket. The jackets features "comfortable, easy-care fabric." I bet it would have been welcomed in the frozen forced labor concentration camps known as gulags, where those who desired the freedom to shop at western department stores were worked to death alongside criminals. North Face—or perhaps we should call it "Red Face" for the embarrassing pimping of totalitarian regimes as fashion chic—is one of many brands of VF Corporation, the same publicly held capitalist corporation that owns the brands Wrangler, Lee, Vanity Fair, JanSport, Eastpak, Vans, and Nautica, just to name a few. I wonder, does VF Investor Relations know that their subsidiaries are promoting a communist regime that killed millions of people, including hundreds of Americans in gulags? This same regime that VF corporation seeks to market and capitalize on, developed and supplied weaponry that killed more than 33,000 American servicemen in the Korean war, and took another 58,191 American lives in Vietnam. This the legacy of mass murder, political oppression and war with America can be yours for just $78 American, courtesy of North Face and VF Corporation. Do let them know what you think: VF Corporation VF Corporation105 Corporate Center Blvd.
Greensboro, NC 27420-1488
Phone: 336.424.6000
Fax: 336.424.7668 Investor Relations
Cindy Knoebel
VP, Financial and Corporate Communications
VF Services
P: 336.424.6189
F: 336.424.7668 Media Inquiries
Paul Mason
P: 336.424.6192
F: 336.424.7668
North Face
Phone
866) 715-3223, prompt 7.Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:00pm
Pacific time Address:
The North Face, Inc.
Customer Service
2013 Farallon Dr.
San Leandro, CA 94577
USA
Like the fallen totalitarian regime they seek to profit from promoting, I'm sure they would just kill to hear from you.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:42 AM
Comments
1
60's moonbats are getting older...more nostalgic. Don't harsh my mellow man...
Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 08, 2006 08:34 AM (n1CDC)
2
Any chance of North Face selling an 'SA' jacket, or a 'Waffen SS' blazer? After all, it would be in the same spirit of things.
Posted by: Steve White at July 08, 2006 03:06 PM (dqGvC)
3
I really don't see what the problem with this is. If someone wants to walk around with "I support failed political system" garb, and someone else is willing to lighten the fools wallet, where's the issue?
The who deal is a perfect, and ironic, example of capitalism in action.
The who deal is a perfect, and ironic, example of capitalism in action.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 08, 2006 08:29 PM (Uwm0w)
4
I don't have a problem with the jackets. The fact that they are retro-russian doesn't rock my boat one way or the other. North Face is a good company; I've bought gear from them for years.
Posted by: lady redhawk at July 09, 2006 01:32 PM (SkAw4)
5
Falls under Freedom of speech, I just see it as our youth loosing touch with actual history. To parade around in the jacket endorses the values that the CCCP stood for, I can't imagine that they fully understand what it actually stood for. If they do, then there's something wrong with them anyway.
Posted by: Retired Navy at July 10, 2006 05:44 AM (elhVA)
6
Losing, not Loosing. Well, maybe either one works.
Posted by: Retired Navy at July 10, 2006 05:49 AM (nFSnk)
7
Come on, it's just fashion. Besides, if a company using the design for an old USSR jacket signifies sympathy for the cause, do we then say those who make Confederate flags or fly them are voicing solidarity with slavery?
Posted by: Nate at July 10, 2006 08:35 PM (UlkGh)
8
This is really funny. CCCP Clothing have been pretty popular for about five years now to the underground youth. I have friends that go to Russia on mission trips and they come back wiith CCCP shirts and jackets. The writer has missed that whole element to the jacket. This is just a sign that North Face is starting to make products with younger people in mind and the writer is reading into this way too much. I guess if I wear a Japanese rising Sun on my swim trunks I should be upset as well,
Posted by: Josh at July 16, 2006 10:56 AM (+N3FX)
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