Meet The Wondrous Women Bulldozing Through Barriers With The North Face

The North Face has been cooking up something incredible. The illustrious label is set to launch a brand new, one-of-a-kind collection spotlighting remarkable women, their exceptional achievements and all around unmatched energy and strength. 

Founded in 1968 in San Francisco – by husband and wife Douglas Tompkins and Susie Tompkins Buell – The North Face began as a climbing equipment store. Flash-forward over five decades and the brand has become the go-to for outdoor apparel and apparatus. Not to mention creating insane collaborations with some of fashion’s most celebrated labels including Gucci, Supreme, Commes des Garçons, Maison Margiela, the list truly goes on. Join us as we take a look at four features The North Face focuses on for their latest offering, delving into the infinite world of the female force. 

Ashima Shiraishi 

A notable name in the climbing world, Ashima Shiraishi has been labelled as the most accomplished female climber in history. After beginning to compete at just seven years old, the straight-A student hailing from Manhattan has gone on to score some phenomenal achievements. She has climbed multiple V14s and two V15s (the only woman to attain this grade), and won three medals at the 2017 IFSC Youth World Championships in Austria; gold in Bouldering and Sport and silver in Combined.    

Now 17 and a multiple discipline three-time defending World Youth Champion, Ashima has her sights set on climbing a 5.15a or b., and competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first Olympics to include climbing scheduled a year later due to the coronavirus pandemic. A 2016 New Yorker article described the climber as “…perhaps the first female climber whose accomplishments may transcend gender, and the first climber who could become a household name.” If she’s not a prodigy, we have no idea who is. 

She Runs It!

Founded in 2014 by personal trainer Tasha Keating, She Runs It! was born out of Tasha’s deep passion for sports and fitness. An empowering and enriching female collective, She Runs It! delivers distinctive wellness and fitness workshops for young women (backed by Sport England and England Athletics), weekly fitness sessions, panel talks and much more, with one clear objective: have fun. 

Tasha incorporates the great outdoors into her training style, aiming to create a space for reflection on the wellness side of fitness, taking precedence over the aesthetics side. On her own journey, she continues to learn about the relationship between the mind, body and soul, as well as the physical movement of the human body. Developing a unique and interesting approach to wellbeing and encouraging women to reach new physical heights and goals, she brings fitness a whole new perspective. One that intrinsically and continually uplifts women everywhere. 

Miramar Muhd 

Acquiring a love for art in her teenage years, 24-year-old Iraqi visual artist and muralist Miramar Mohammad Hussein Ali Al Nayyar continues to express her beliefs through passionate creativity. Based in Amman, Jordan, she transitioned from studio canvases to cityscapes, painting large-scale designs onto buildings and walls, spreading her visions throughout the city. 

Through her art, Miramar aims to navigate what it means to be female in contemporary Arab society, and use her art to respond to injustice. Speaking on her work, the self-taught artist touched on her growth as a painter, “I realised that painting was feeding a need that I didn’t know I had. It was very spontaneous and that feeling of spontaneity proceeded until it engulfed my days and became my life.” Although street art is considered a criminal offence in Amman, the openness of the city means it has transformed into a welcoming and unrestricted space for new artists. 

Stephanie Case

Balancing ultra running (running longer distances than the traditional marathon length of 42.195km) and working for the UN as a human rights lawyer, Stephanie Case gives the word admirable a brand new meaning. After feeling unsatisfied once she completed a marathon, the athlete embarked on a hunt for greater challenges, “I went in search of unpredictable and messy. What’s the point of starting something you know you will finish?” 

Stephanie’s specialisation in human rights and humanitarian emergencies led her to live and work in some extremely challenging environments. She spent six months living in a tent in South Sudan, two years in an apartment in Gaza and a year inside an armed compound in Kabul, exposing herself to many safety and health risks. And through it all, she never stopped running. Constantly testing her limits, she considers her “failures” to be more valuable than her successes, and continues to complete numerous long distance races. 

These awe-inspiring women brought to us by The North Face continue to unapologetically break barriers and push boundaries. It’s feats like these that remind us that women are just as powerful, creative, innovative and impassioned as our male counterparts, sending the message to women and girls all over the world that we are truly magnificent. We’re living in the future after all. And the future is female. 

Shop The North Face here.