The North Face Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight Review

Analysis and Test Results

The North Face have a tremendous reputation in the outdoor community and not without justification. For a very long time, their Hedgehog hiking shoes were our personal favorites and the shoe we would always recommend. However, time moves on, technology improves and the Vectiv family is now The North Face’s flagship hiking and trail running shoes. These shoes pack a lot of technological innovation into their design, and for many hikers they will be an absolutely perfect choice, combining a great combination of ventilation, water resistance and excellent comfort – helped by their innovative Vectiv sole design.

Performance Comparison

Traction

These shoes feature a sole made from a soft rubber compound with deep lugs. This combination gives great traction – even in less than ideal weather conditions (though very wet rocks or grass, mud and ice will still thwart the grip of these shoes). However, there is a trade-off involved in this and it’s worth bearing in mind that softer rubber soles like these are not as durable as the harder rubber soles found on some competitor’s shoes. This means you can expect the thread on these to wear down quicker than on some other shoes – especially if you spend a lot of time walking on hard surfaces.

Breathability

The North Face Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight feature a mesh upper section that offers excellent breathability. They are not as well ventilated as some of the other shoes we have assessed, and the Futurelight membrane surely does compromise the breathability further. If you are only hiking in very warm and dry environments, a shoe without a waterproof membrane may be a better choice, but, if you encounter rain in your hikes, the performance here, coupled with the water resistance offered by the Futurelight membrane is generally excellent.

Ankle Support

These are hiking shoes and, as such, they don’t offer any direct ankle support. It used to be a given that you’d wear boots for hiking, but that logic has been truly upended and, whilst boots are still the preferred choice for technical hiking and mountaineering, hiking shoes like this are a great option for general hiking, walking and trail running. For those who would rather have the extra ankle support, these Vectiv Fastpack Futurelights are also offered as mid-high boots.

Arch Support

The first thing you’ll notice about these shoes – and indeed all the shoes in The North Face’s Vectiv family – is the distinct, curved, oversized sole. This is a type of ‘rocker sole’. Rocker soles have been around for a very long time, but they were popularized in mainstream footwear by the brand MBT in the early 2000s. There are many positive claims associated with this type of sole, including that they encourage good posture in the wearer, can alleviate pressure spots and even improve moving efficiency. It’s difficult to quantify a lot of these claims, and different wearers will have very different experiences, but it’s worth bearing in mind that rocker-style soles are claimed to provide increased comfort for people who generally need extra arch support. If the arch support they offer still isn’t enough, the neutral insoles provided with these shoes can easily be swapped out for a more heavily shaped insole to increase arch support as needed.

Fit

These Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight shoes are offered in a single width and are generally true to size (in keeping with the rest of The North Face’s footwear range). These shoes are offered in sizes ranging from US 7/UK 6/EU 39 through to US 14/UK 13/EU48, going in half size increments. These shoes are generally considered better for people with regular to slightly narrow feet and they can pinch somewhat on wider feet.

Materials

The North Face Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight are fully synthetic shoes. The use of synthetic materials helps these shoes hit their impressive low weight whilst still maintaining their water resistance.

Appearance

These are basically modern synthetic hiking shoes – and they certainly look the part, with the design making a feature of the contrasts in texture between the different materials used in the shoe. They are offered in a number of color ways – all dark, neutral and earthy. Whilst the shoes are absolutely modern in their styling they also are not too over the top or in your face and we think that many prospective buyers will appreciate this. We also can’t talk about these shoes without mentioning the oversized, distinctively curved sole – the Vectiv part of the shoe’s name refers to the sole. The appearance of the sole may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s not just there for looks and the shape and thickness of it are integral to the ergonomics of these shoes.

Durability

Generally, footwear from The North Face has a great reputation for durability. However, if you read online reviews, there’s plenty of reports that the latest footwear from the brand – including these Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight shoes – is not as durable as their products used to be, with the mesh upper fraying and the soft rubber in the sole wearing down relatively quickly. But let’s put this into perspective: Our reviewer previously had a pair of Fastpack Futurelight shoes without the Vectiv sole and did experience all of these wear issues, however they took well over a year of very regular use to begin to manifest and, even then, were purely cosmetic. These shoes still provided several years of good use before they eventually wore out and given the similarities between those shoes and these one, we see no reason why they shouldn’t be equally durable.

Sustainability

Like all major manufacturers, The North Face is dedicated to improving their sustainability credentials. They are committed to reducing waste during production, moving towards using more recycled material and also reduce the environmental footprint of their suppliers and retailers. This all sounds great, but the information they’ve published on this topic is, sadly, vague on details and it’s difficult to find breakdowns of recycled materials used in specific products, for instance. Given the size and market influence of this brand, it would have been great to see more progress here.

Water Resistance

These shoes feature a Futurelight membrane. Futurelight is The North Face’s in-house waterproof, breathable membrane that has replaced Gore-Tex in many of their products (though it’s worth noting that the two materials have slightly different properties, and The North Face still offers plenty of products that use Gore-Tex). The Futurelight membrane does a great job of keeping your feet dry in wet conditions, though it’s still possible to flood the shoes if water gets in over the heel cuff or around the tongue.

Weight

 The North Face Vectiv Fastpack Futurelights weigh in at an impressive 646g per pair – putting them at the lighter end of shoes we’ve assessed. This will certainly make these shoes appeal to hikers who value light weight gear and, even if this isn’t your main priority, it’s worth bearing in mind that weight carried on your feet causes disproportionate fatigue on longer hikes: put simply, you’ll feel more benefit from wearing a lighter pair of shoes than you will from reducing the weight of, for instance, your backpack by the same amount.

Insoles

These shoes come with a fairly generic pair of padded insoles. These are in line with what most manufacturers offer and for most hikers, these will be absolutely fine. However, if you want to fine-tune the fit of your shoes or add extra arch support, then swapping out your insoles is a great and inexpensive way to achieve just this.

Break-in Period

The North Face’s footwear is well known for its comfort straight from the box and these Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight shoes are no exception. No shoes are completely free from a breaking-in period, but we’d say these come very close and for most people, they’ll be good to wear out on a long hike after a few shorter local walks or a day spent wearing them around your home.

Lacing System

These shoes use regular, old-fashioned laces. It may not seem like there’s much to write about laces, but many hikers and walkers don’t realize how much flexibility they give in terms of being able to fine-tune the fit of your shoes. You can also change your lacing pattern to further refine the fit.

Toe Protection

In common with most other hiking shoes, these Vectiv shoes have a reinforced rubber toe cap formed by the extension of the thread pattern. On these shoes, this is backed up by a rubber rand around the toes. This won’t provide the same level of toe protection as you’d find on more heavy-duty hiking boots, but it’s still enough to absorb and deflect many of the sort of knocks you’ll likely encounter on the trail.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to like about The North Face’s Vectiv Fastpack Futurelight. They pack in a lot of cutting-edge footwear technology to deliver a lightweight, comfortable hiking shoe that’s still breathable and water-proof. On top of all of this, these shoes are often also available at a very attractive price point. However, it’s not all positive and the shoes may not be comfortable for those with wider feet and there are also some concerns about the long-term durability of some of the materials used. None the less, these are impressive hiking shoes, and we think that many hikers and trail runners would be very happy with these.