Dates

• Creation: 1970-1983

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet

Inventory

2) The origin of TNF’s relationship with Bucky Fuller a) A letter from my Stanford friend, Don Butts, asking Bucky if he would consider designing a tent —Don’s father, Jake Butts, helped fund raising for Bucky on his many projects including the Wichita Housing Experiment —Don test used products for TNF and we often discussed product designs. He tested and he and I often discussed design ideas. I discussed with him the idea of Bucky designing a geodesic tent and asked him if he would reach out which he did in this 1970 letter b) The letter back from Bucky saying he would accept Don’s challenge June 4, 1970 —Don gave this to me and I followed up (but I don’t seem to have those). Bucky told me he was too busy to design on his own but if I could put together a team to design it, he would mentor that team. —I then formed that team around Bruce Hamilton (a long time Bucky follower) and Mark Erickson (the head of TNF design who knew fabrics and generally knew of Bucky’s ideas). The team had about 6 other members from across the company. c) A 1976 letter from Bucky to me inviting TNF to participate in a Conference on Human Settlements that he created (this was in line with us creating designs that were going to solve the world’s homeless problem) —And a copy of my letter responding positively d) A partial transcript from 1977 when I invited Bucky to Margot and my home (which we had just moved into) for a small group of people of talk about his work and ideas. The group included my mother and grandmother (Ada Rowland) Bucky and Ada were of similar ages (mid-80’s) and they had some interesting back and forth on what changes they had seen in their lives. 3) Chinese Materials from 1979 a) When the world supply of goose down that we were getting through a network of down processors and suppliers was insufficient and the processors were not going to give us enough down (or the down was going to be mixed with reused bedding down that would not last) we were threatened with not being able to make “the best sleeping bags and jackets in the world.” To overcome I took Jack Gilbert and we went over the heads of our suppliers and went directly to China to try to buy down (and take some from what was going to be sold to the down processors). —we were among the first Americans to go into China in 1975 and were successful in both procuring down and establishing some of the first strong business relationships with China —as a result of those relationships I was invited by the U.S. President Jimmy Carter to welcome Deng Xiaoping, the Vice Premier of China on his (and China’s first visit to the US. There was a performance and a reception. This was the commencement of business relations with China and the tipping point for China moving beyond Mao to being the commercial powerhouse they now are b) There are originals of the invitation to the Reception and the Program for the Performance they attended. 4) Three writings I did for our employees on the Direction of The North Face a) 1971—TNF’s Marketing and Sales Strategies (this is the earliest one I could find but clearly lays out the premise of The North Face that I was building b) Another Paper written in 1972 or 1973 about TNF policies and my view of the Market c) A 1977 summary of the Japanese Market where our original distributor in Japan, Van Jacket, was having problems and we had to consider an alternative.. The paper doesn’t mention Goldwin, but ultimately it was Goldwin we chose and they did an excellent job as history would show. 5) A 1979/80 Stanford Business School case study on The North Face 6) A couple of pictures of me around the opening of the “new” Stanford Headquarters in 1983 —one is outside next to a wooden sign, the other is inside in front of a Japanese Kite that Goldwin gave to me.