While on the subject of sweating and still looking good, there’s a clothing company called Nau to which Bronwyn recently exposed me that is unfortunately calling it quits after a year in business. Their clothing and design philosophy encompasses an unprecedented combination of style, performance, and sustainability that’s pretty hard to find anywhere else. I know because I’ve been looking. While I love REI, if you’ve got a closet full of their stuff it’s hard to avoid the stigma and dorkitude of the “outdoor chic” look. In addition to Nau’s clothes looking not only “normal” but really attractive, they are (were?) committed to socially responsible business practices, including donating 5% of their sales to environmental and social causes. That’s pretty radical, especially considering that other companies like Patagonia like to tout their affiliation with 1% for the Planet. I don’t mean to downplay that at all, especially since the average charitable contributions from Fortune 500 companies is 0.07%. 1% is great, but 5% is astounding.
Their clothes, as expected, are pricey, but as they are currently winding down their business, they’re liquidating their inventory at a 50% discount across their entire site. In my mind, that makes their prices a steal and Bronwyn and I ordered several pieces on Monday – probably spending more than we should what with the wedding coming up, but this is one of those special circumstances. Apparently they’ve gotten a flood of orders and are expecting a delay of several weeks for shipping. Hopefully we’ll get ours before we leave for our Honeymoon in Greece.
It’s a shame that Nau wasn’t able to succeed as a business. Even with the growing trend in society of environmental consciousness that should have benefited their brand immensely, they explain that they were unable to secure enough investors to overcome their financial obstacles. Sadly, we’re all feeling the squeeze of an impending recesssion, and I can understand how $60 organic cotton t-shirts might not be the most appealing options on the market, I’ll even admit that their full retail price is more than I’d be willing to pay for a lot of their items. Still, I like their clothes and I like what they tried to do. I should hope that, given more favorable economic conditions, some other company can follow Nau’s example and make a similar business model feasible.
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Comments ( 2 )
People who overload on performance clothing are called “Patagonias.” There’s times when I feel like one, though I try to add enough flair to balance things out.
It’s too bad about Nau, there’s a dearth of “normal” clothes to bike in.
John added these pithy words on
May 19 08 at
11:50 am
“Patagonias” – ha, I like that. I often feel like one, but especially when I’m wearing anything plastic. I try to get as much wool stuff as I can as it’s generally rather presentable. What needs to happen is knickers need to come back in to fashion so I can wear those around everywhere and not worry about it.
Jon added these pithy words on
May 26 08 at
5:06 pm
