Goodbye for Nau: Groundbreaking Apparel Brand Closing Up Shop

Nau is closing down
TreeHugger is very sad to report that Nau is closing its doors and winding down its business, effective immediately. One of our favorite brands, Nau combined high performance apparel with sleek design and thoughtful, green materials; their collections included everything from rain gear to shorts and organic cotton denim to polo shirts.

You can get your last piece of Nau, both at their five brick 'n mortar stores and online, at 50% off; it looks like the stores will only be open through tomorrow -- Saturday, May 3 -- and Nau is in the process of determining how long the website will remain open. Shop now and you'll be buying a piece of history.

If you're shopping online, Nau asks that you be a little patient -- the site is being hit hard by visitors buying the last of their inventory. Sales made will help pay off some of their supportive business partners, so we encourage our readers to help Nau lower the lifeboats.

Sadly, the reason appears to be largely financial: "Despite having previously raised $35M in financing, Nau was unsuccessful in securing the necessary funds in its series D round. As a result, Nau’s board of directors exercised its fiduciary responsibility and voted to begin winding down the business," according to their press release.

We think Nau should be very proud of what they accomplished in the year they were open for business, as they strove to integrate of environmental, social and economic factors and a unique business model built around sustainable business practices, the innovative use of technology and philanthropic partnerships. Their last press release says, "Nau is particularly proud of the commitment it has made to supporting environmental and social non-profit organizations, donating more than $223,000 through its unique customer-directed giving program, Partners for Change."

We'll be covering this topic more over the coming days. In the mean time, if you ever thought about checking out their gear, now is the time. If you can't make it to a store, check it out at ::Nau

Learn more about Nau's organic clothing
::The Time is Nau
::Product Review: Garments from the Nau Spring Line
::Green Style for the Wild Blue Yonder: Nau Interviewed
::Nau and Again. Part Two of our Interview