Outdoor apparel brand, The North Face, is celebrating its 50th anniversary, with an art exhibition at Sydney’s Central Park Mall.

The North Face has held a three-day exhibition at aMBUSH Gallery in Sydney’s Central Park Mall, which concludes tonight. The gallery details the brand’s history, covering 50 years of through an immersive gallery, guest speakers and adventure film screenings.

“Starting about 10 years ago, everyone was really getting concerned that cell phones and technology were going to swallow up the time people would otherwise have outdoors,” said Todd Spaletto, president, North Face. “But what we’ve found is that exploration becomes a counterpoint to all of that. That the experience of being outside is so powerful and so large that it can’t be ignored.”

The first North Face retail store at 308 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco’s bohemian North Beach neighborhood, was a tiny space between blue-collar bars and beat hangouts. On October 26, 1966 Doug Tompkins’ vision came to life in electric fashion as the Grateful Dead played live, and the Hells Angels worked the door.

In 1977, The North Face introduced the tagline “Expedition Proven,” referencing 10-plus years of the world’s top explorers pushing The North Face gear to higher and higher performance.

From Ned Gillete’s 1972 expedition of the Brooks Range Ski Traverse, to Kit DesLaruiers’ 2006 Seven Summits Ski Descent, to Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk’s becoming the first to scale the Shark’s Fin of Meru in 2008, The North Face said athletes have been pushing the boundaries of human endurance tirelessly for years.

Meanwhile, Central Park mall has kicked off its festive season, featuring an app that allows shoppers to create their own wrapping paper. The Santafy yourself app will be on the digital wall daily, back by popular demand after proving successful last year.People take a “selfie”, their face is superimposed into a Santa template, and printed on wrapping paper.

The mall also features 70 Etsy makers at the Sydney Etsy Made Local Markets on Chippendale Green at Central Park Mall.

The aMBUSH Gallery on Level 3 is also housing an exhibit, Salon de Sydney, until the end of November. Salon de Sydney is an exhibition of 67 of the city’s contemporary and street art worlds. The line-up of artists includes the likes of Anthony Lister, Beastman, George Rose, James Kirat, Kaff-eine, and Numskull.

During its 18- month residency at Central Park Mall, aMBUSH Gallery has worked on 29 exhibitions and countless private events that have brought together over 1300 local and international artists from 71 countries. Also on Level 3, is Barnados Australia who are returning for their third Christmas at Central Park Mall. They will be running the Barnados Gifts for Kids where shoppers can donate gifts for disadvantaged children and young people across Australia until 16 December.

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