Business Unusual. Nau Close Doors, Then Releases Summer 08!
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 05.12.08
Barely a week after eco-clothier Nau saddened green hearts by announcing they were winding up, they have released what we assume was to have been their Summer 08 line. A collection of new pants, shorts, capris, and shirts. Along with some new brighter hues that add a little zing to their otherwise subtly toned colour palette. Mostly in certified organic cotton or recycled polyester. All still at 50% off.
And it seems that the closing down clearance is going gangbusters. We’re reliably informed that sales have been 2.5 times greater than their previous records (and they did have 50% off sales before.) A pity it’s all too late. Reading the 70+ comments on the Nau blog, it appears that the company’s green product and ethos certainly touched a heap of people. There are even calls from other green leaning businesses for a customer buyout. ::Nau
If you missed what all the fuss was about, you can geta sense of it with this three part You Tube vid from a presentation given last year by Nau CEO Chris Van Dyke. He clearly articulates the grand experiment they had embarked on, and invited the event’s organisers to have him back in 18 months to talk about what worked and what didn’t. Nau that would be an interesting lecture.
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Recycled Plastic Workout Gear is Great for Fitness, Great for Planet
- Green Your Bikini Waxing Routine with Soy, Pine Sap and Organic Bikini Wax
- Got Guts? Stand Up to Summer Heat Without Air Conditioning
- Surf Green with Eco-Friendly Surf Gear
- No Sew Breezy Beanie Hat From Scrap Fabric
- The Week's Best DIY Projects: Kid-Friendly Coloring Books, Energy-Saving Chargers, and Woven Coasters
$110 for a pair of pants is out of almost everyone's budget save those who earn $100k+ a year. $50 is still too expensive. I'll stick with making my own out of base materials. That's my main (and only) gripe with Nau's stuff. There are other companies that do the same for much cheaper as well, but it's still sad to see any loss in the green field.
Everyone who gripes about Nau's prices, argue that there are many other equal options at lower prices? Where? Who?
Patagonia's jeans are $110 a pair. Their other pants average $80 a pair. That is almost identical pricing with Nau, but now that it's half-off people are still complaining!?
I also find it hard to believe these cheaper alternatives are of the same design and quality caliber as Nau. Even Patagonia (as much as I love them as a company) could improve the cuts and styles in a lot of their line.
I feel like some pissed off Nau fanboy, but these arguments are so unfounded in anything other than refusing to pay money for quality and responsibility.
I liked Nau's philosophy, but the clothes were very minimal and boring, all in drab colors, expensive, and you couldn't buy them in retail stores to check out the fit. The 'web-storefront' idea was too complicated and difficult to grasp.
Here's the thing. All of their clothes are LUXURY items. Sure, they're priced competitively with Patagonia, but Patagonia is also luxury.
I bought 3 things from Nau during their sale... those three items total to more than my average yearly clothes budget... but I figured it's the most bang-for-the-buck I could get with my Stimulus package.
I know one person that *requires* the types of clothes that Nau made, and he's a professional photographer that spends most of his time in the PNW Rainforest. For everyone else, it's neat, it's trendy, but it's things that you don't need for a simple lifestyle. Only at 50% off does their line become reasonable.
If they offered a line of clothing that could fit into my budget, I'd have been all over it... but they picked a niche that has a small market. 'Designer all-weather green clothing'. Drop the designer, drop the price, I'll buy it up!
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Quality and Eco responsible outdoor gear will cost a bit more.
Nau was niche market. They designed cool green clothes and outdoor wear. They then sold it through their own store front using innovative supply chain methods. From my experience in the retail, supply chain, and outdoor gear fields, they were trying to do a bit too much.
If they had simply designed and made cool green clothes they might have survived, However, it takes a lot to establish a brand these days and I think the supply chain/store front side of NAU played a large role in their brand recognition. So I am not sure they could have done one without the other.
In the end it is too bad as they were challenging the retail norms and made some killer products.
AMEN Dusty!
I agree that what nau offers are above my typical spending on cloths, which is the same reason I don't shop Patagonia. I tend to be more LL Bean at this point. I did buy a couple shirts and a jacket on the 50% off sale, and at that price level, they seem reasonable. (Of course, the jacket does have one of the pockets sewn closed - something I have for some reason only seen on the more expensive "designer" clothing - haven't these people heard of quality control?)
One of the main issues I found with NAU was their inability to ship out of the USA. Being in Canada and someone who has no issue dropping $110 for a pair of jeans they "couldn't" ship here.
To me, its a flawed business structure with a great product and its very unfortunate.
ecothreadz.com makes sustainable clothing out of environmentally friendly material and it's less expensive than nau. there is a viable alternative.
honestly, i think that if nau didn't try to market as outdoor clothing, it would have done better. it had a clean, albeit sometimes a bit boring, aesthetic, that could have done well as "normal" clothing.
ecothreadz.com doesn't even sell clothes. it sends you to bambooclothes.com, where they charge $48 for bamboo yoga sweatpants. I don't call that a better value for my money!
The reason I went to Nau was precicely for their outdoor clothing. The styling that looks nicer than your basic hiking gear is appealing. And that does end up saving me money, not having to buy separate street clothes and performance outdoor clothes.