From the very first day that professional ski mountaineer and free skier Vasu Sojitra signed on as a North Face–sponsored athlete in 2017, he campaigned for the brand to incorporate more elements of universal design into its product line. Having lost his leg as an infant, Sojitra was the brand’s first disabled athlete and sensitive to how conventional gear can ruin an outdoor adventure for those who are differently abled. “He challenged us,” recalls Wyatt Grose, a technical soft goods and outdoor equipment designer at the company.
By 2022, Grose says, the company had a team of designers “building prototypes at our labs and then sewing them by hand.” Every October, the team would bring new designs to the Adaptive Climbers Festival in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, asking anyone who tested a product to fill out Post-it Notes with feedback and stick them directly on the item. It allowed the team to get real-time input, make changes, and then test again to gather additional immediate commentary.
The North Face Universal Collection, the Best Design North America winner of the 2026 Innovation by Design Awards, hit stores in April 2026. Including a tent, a backpack, a sleeping bag, and a pair of mules, the collection features many accessible innovations: a sleeping bag with a winglike design and magnetic closures; a simple tent with interchangeable equal-length poles so campers don’t need to pick the right particular pole in the dark and an enlarged doorway; mules that fit either foot for just $65. (Good luck scoring a pair: Most sizes were sold out online as of press time.)
For Sojitra’s part, watching that input loop unfold was key. “The feedback we’re getting now from those athletes is incredibly positive,” he says. “They’re so excited that what they wrote on a little sticky note was incorporated into a tent that’s now being sold nationwide.”
