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At EcoMetro, I created and now manage the following Twitter accounts:

• National: @EcoMetro
• Portland: @PDXEcoMetro
• Seattle: @EcoMetroSEA
• Twin Cities: @EcoMetroTwinC
• East Bay: @EcoMetroEastBay

and soon Denver and Silicon Valley, too.

I also created Facebook accounts for each, but handed that over to the marketing team because I don’t really like Facebook and they do.

Quotes of this were picked up and repeated in Treehugger, various blogs, and the book The Gort Cloud (excerpt).

EcoMetro.com,What Nau? May 2008

On Friday, May 2, Nau announced that “due to crisis in the capital markets” the company was unable to obtain enough funds to move forward. They did it with their typical charm, even nabbing the best headline, “Goodbye for Nau” for their press release. Through their 5% donation program, Nau donated $223,000 to non-profits in just under one year of business. That’s an admirable achievement for a little company struggling to stay afloat.

I covered Nau twice before they launched, first for Ultra PDX in November 06′ and later for Plenty Magazine, so this is the death of one of my pet companies. The offices were buzzing with energy back then, and the people could not have been nicer or more enthusiastic. They were heavy hitters too, coming from years of experience at places like Patagonia and Nike. So, what went wrong? At the risk of kicking Nau while it’s down, I saw this coming.

Nau set out to be the Prada of the outdoor industry, and at first it seemed they would pull it off. With a target market of creative, outdoorsy types and a growing national interest in environmental lifestyles, Nau launched at just the right moment in early 07′. What they put out, however, was…frumpy. I say that shamefully, because when VP of Product Design Mark Galbraith walked me through the sample racks in late 06′, I was drooling.

The bike-friendly skirts had me at hello, but also the presence of new textiles, several of which they engineered to be recyclable or compostable because the existing fabrics didn’t cut the mustard. Their work spelled new standards for an industry which has a significant environmental impact.

According to the Organic Trade Association, conventional cotton uses 25% of the world’s insecticides, and if you haven’t checked the labels on your raincoats yet, look up some of the chemicals and treatments involved in making them. The clothes we wear to tromp around outside have a significant footprint of their own, and Galbraith and I talked about this at length, but that sentiment was never spelled out in their marketing campaigns. It seemed Nau would set a higher bar, and maybe they have, but unfortunately not for style.

Galbraith had explained how he wanted to follow high fashion for its timelessness. The outdoor industry, especially snowboard clothing, is trendy and seasonal, requiring frequent replacement. Away from the drawing board went neon colors, away went blue camo prints, and good riddance. But Nau came out with a line almost exclusively in forest green, mud brown and a dirty cream. And then they charged 3 times the average for it, consistently marking everything down by 40% after a few months on a beautiful-but-absurdly-large Flash website.

There was nothing visually special about the clothes at first glance, and they seemed not at all like the ones I had viewed when I visited the offices. Was it just the energy of the place that made everything look beautiful and new, or did they wimp out at the last minute and go with safer, basic designs? Creative, outdoorsy people want to look like creative, outdoorsy people. The fashionistas, the hipsters, the creative set with the funky glasses, wear edgy, unique clothing. The photos were always of pretty people in the outdoor world, but the prices belonged in urban boutiques. Their Portland store was even in the massive suburban Bridgeport Place mall, alongside stores like Pottery Barn and Anthropologie.

As outdoorsy as any of us may be, we walk mostly on urban streets. And what’s the fun in a $250 sweater if no one is going to ask you about it, giving you the chance to talk about the organic fibers or recyclable clasps?

I’m sad to see this little company leave the block. Besides their non-profit donations, I hope the Nau legacy will be that consumers ask questions about the fabrics we wear including the production process and how it can be recycled in the end, as well as the heart of the company behind it all.

Most everything is 50% off online, so get your goods nau or never.

EcoMetro, December 2008 (condensed version appeared in 2008 East Bay EcoMetro Guides)

Name: Tierra Del Forte
Job Title: Fashion Designer
Time at job: Since 1999
Neighborhood you live in: N Temescal in N. Oakland

Del Forte is partnered with the Davis, CA based Sustainable Cotton Project, and uses only 100% organic cotton for her denim.

How do you commute? One top goal is to bike to work. My car is 30 years old, so I’ve definitely gotten a lot of use out of it.

Who inspired your view of environmentalism? A friend of mine—who now works with me– has been involved in eco-fashion for 12 years, mostly hemp, way before it was a big to-do.  She was super knowledgeable and super committed, but it never really clicked with me until I was doing the research to start my own company. Conventional cotton is SO polluting, and organic farming is SO beneficial.

What’s one positive thing that encouraged your environmentalism early on? There was a really positive reaction in the industry and buyers and boutiques I respect were really excited. I could combine my aesthetic with something I believed in. People who weren’t actively looking for eco-fashion were really pleased when they were presented with it. A lot of what we are doing with this company is consumer education—eco-fashion doesn’t have to be scratchy burlap jumpers! We just show them our product; the other part is a little trickier.

What inspires you to keep working for change? I’ve invested a lot in this company financially, emotionally, and time-wise. I really really believe in this sector of the market—not just my company in particular. Press regarding eco-fashion in the last couple of years has been growing and growing, and it’s becoming more and more of a focus.

What have you witnessed changing about the sustainable community in the last 5 years? I’m fairly new to it, but it’s getting a lot more glamorous. The environment is a huge issue in Hollywood right now, and there’s probably upsides and downsides to that, but the events are being better produced, the glamour portion is rising, the only fear is that the issue will get lost. Are people going to get too distracted and star struck? But mostly I think it’s really good.

What do you envision the world will be like in 5 years? In 10? What I’m really striving for is that sustainable practices aren’t just limited to a few companies. I’d like to see all companies start looking at how they are making their goods. Consumer demand is going to keep growing, so I hope sustainable practices are going to become a quality that successful companies have.

Where do you get your information on the environment? Tons! I work with people at the Organic Exchange, and the Sustainable Cotton Project especially because they deal with family farmers in CA. Cradle to Cradle, Paul Hopkins, Worldchanging, Treehugger, Grist, G Living…all of these I find are really really great. Then there’s social networking sites like Earth.

How do you, in your own circles of family and friends, impart your sustainable practices? I grew up in Berkley, so we grew up with things like recycling, and things that the rest of the country is starting to do in a big way we’ve done for 30 years. Being in this industry has made my family and friends more aware. Small changes that are easy for people to make, they tend to do.

What are three things you do to be green? In the office we buy only eco-friendly office supplies when they’re available—all marketing is recycled post consumer paper with soy-based ink, all paper in the office is recycled post consumer, we print on both sides; we avoid shipping garments any farther than we need to, and most everything is done here in the U.S. which drastically reduces our use of fossil fuels. Where there’s an option I buy the eco friendly option—and I buy a lot less than I used to. Beauty, food, fashion…I’ve discovered I need a lot less things than I thought.

What do you think is the #1 thing people can do to be green? Be an informed consumer, read labels. The mainstream marketing world has realized how much of a selling point sustainability is and they care co-opting the language left and right, using words like organic and natural. Demand the products you want—if your grocery store doesn’t carry organic, then ask for it. If your favorite boutique has no eco friendly fashion available, ask for it.

Online shoppers can purchase Del Forte Denim from the store list.

These links will display the most recent published under each. The Editors I use for more generic, voiceless pieces. My own name I use for the arts and design related pieces.

EcoMetro Editors articles in Portland (they’re mostly the same in other cities)

Carissa Wodehouse articles on ecometro.com