Nau Update:

Nau has been acquired by Horny Toad who will attempt to resurrect the business model in a new and improved fashion. Be on the lookout for a newly updated site in October, along with a new season of clothes. Here’s what they have to say:

In October we’ll launch a new nau.com featuring new fall product. We’ll also initiate a new set of partnerships with a select group of retailers who will carry Nau clothing in their stores. Through the new website and our retail partners, we’re looking forward to making it even easier for you to find and try out the great designs in our Fall line.

Wishing them all the best in their new incarnation, and looking forward to seeing the new model bring the superior ideals of the old Nau to the fore.

Nau, Beverly Center which only opened last month.

Maybe it’s the economy, maybe it’s the true cost of doing business with a triple bottom line. Could it be the fact that we say we want sustainable choices, but when it comes down to it, we don’t want to pay for it…or perhaps it is a little of all of those things? Nonetheless, a great idea just shut its doors. Nau was a clothing company ahead of its time:

• Fair wages - bylaws prohibited any Nau executive from earning more than 12 times what the lowest-paid U.S. worker earned.

• Corporate responsibility - their charitable giving program dedicated 5 percent of each sale to charity.

• Innovative distribution via webfront stores - 10% off any purchase if one elected to have the item shipped for free instead of carrying it out of the store. This policy allowed Nau to stock and ship (and ship back) fewer items, creating more energy-efficient stores.

• Fashion forward design - truly sustainable fabrics and design practices from great designers with premium sportswear pedigrees…

• Shall I go on?

The bottom line is that Nau could not find its next round of venture funding to support a longer run, which says the model was still unproven, and therefore; great try, but not a home run. So it is with a sigh that we say goodbye to Nau, and what we expect may have influence on a longer-term success story. But in the short run, Nau leaves without the opportunity to prove itself sustainable.

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A recent purchase in the product world has created quite the buzz. Last week The Clorox Company announced that they have bought the beloved Burt’s Bees for $925 million in cash.

Burt’s Bees, which began in 1984 as cofounder Burt Shavitz peddling honey out the back of his pick-up, has an ever-growing following for it natural products over the past years. Now in a situation similar to Colgate’s purchasing of Tom’s of Maine, or Ben & Jerry’s buyout to Unilever, brand-loyal consumers have been sent into a tailspin.

According to Clorox, the natural personal care market already accounts for over $6 billion in sales each year, and sales are climbing at an annual rate of 9%. The purchase of the natural products company is intended to prep Clorox for the release of Green Works, their new environmentally friendly cleaning line.
“The Burt’s Bees brand is well-anchored in sustainability and health and wellness, and we believe it will benefit from natural and ‘green’ tailwinds,” said Clorox Chief Executive Donald R. Knauss. “It’s in an economically attractive category with a margin structure that will be highly accretive to Clorox.”
Plans are in place for Burt’s to conduct a distribution test with Wal-Mart Stores by the end of the year. Clorox, coincidentally, obtains 26% of its sales from Wal-Mart.
The purchased Google search results link to www.burtsbees.com currently opens up to the “Our Values” page, featuring “The Greater Good Business Model,” instead of the usual homepage. Among other hypocritical highlights, the site includes “animals rights” and “fair trade” in it’s web of consciousness; a compelling contrast to Clorox’s animal testing practices and Burt’s branching out to Wal-Mart.
The site also features a response to the recent purchase via “A Letter to Our Loyal Customers,” which states that Burt’s still plans to stick to their ‘green’ guns, and that the purchase is “a great opportunity to help us better deliver against our mission of making truly natural personal products available to everyone, everywhere.” The company may now be able to make the most of their mission, but what about those values?
On the brighter side, the Burt’s business will not be joining The Clorox Company headquarters in Oakland, CA, but remain nestled in North Carolina. Perhaps the cross country distance between the bleach and the beeswax will be enough to convince consumers.

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Pimpin’ the G life

In a year when every major magazine has featured a green issue, and the world’s pop star elite gathered for Live Earth around the globe, those who have made it their life’s mission to acquire the celebrity zeitgeist are bound to take notice.

Just as the flower power days of the 1960’s, when it became fashionable to talk about revolution, the “man”, and fighting the power, we can now fast forward to 2007 to those re-dressed archetypes speaking refrains like: sustainability, organic and carbon footprint. How many of you have had an experience in the past year where you knew the person you were speaking with had no knowledge whatsoever regarding “green” issues, nonetheless, spouted greenthink slogans they think you want to hear?

But hey why be uptight, can’t hedonism and ecological activism mix? The revolution must not be devoid of pleasure.

But if this is an age crying out for authenticity, the only genuine article parlayed by Paris Hilton and Ron Jeremy et. al. is the art of the “put on”.

If they really wanted to work for change, shouldn’t they work within their realms of influence - develop an ecocondom, make a home permaculture video, or at least follow the example of this young, idealistic and very sex positive couple in giving to the green porn cause?

Instead they pose like a Jeff Koons tableaux of Hollywood glitterati struggling for tenancy in the garden of Eden, sculpted in green plaster of Paris that ages in real time.

It is precisely the aging part that gives one pause. If our celebrity-obsessed culture cannot accept the maturing of human flesh, how can it live in harmony with nature’s cyclical acceptance of decay and rebirth?

The Diesel clothing company’s campaign, “global warming ready” exemplifies this irony.

What is the message behind these images of the thin, mostly white and homogeneously beautiful in nonchalant repose amidst a flooded, world in crisis? What were the memos that must have been flying around ad-strategy boardrooms and marcom sticky pads? “Buyer persona - young, aspirationally affluent, environmentally “aware”, but loves the thought of rockin’ in an 07 Hummer limo. So why don’t we create an “aspirational” tableaux of a post-apocalypse that can be, well…. glamorous?”

cool…?

Are we flashing the ultimate cynical sign, a kind of “bling uber alles”?

We say nah. Make friends with reality. It is coming, and without a stylist in tow.

The signs do seem to read that a “tipping point” has been reached. The “Green” label will become something else, all the eco terms will fall away to be more about being a conscious and awake human being, whose green/eco status will be based simply on their actions.

The issues will still be there, in spades.

Keep it real.

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As we become more aware of the opportunities to make greener choices, it is important to remember that the first step towards sustainability is not just consuming green products, but reducing our consumption altogether.

The 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - only go so far in creating sustainable thinking. Anticipating what this catch phrase actually means is a preliminary step in working daily towards sustainability. What we might consider is thinking about our usage in general, while creating strategies to accomplish the 3 Rs. Waste management experts refer to this as Re-Think.

An article at Inhabitat called our attention to the Dutch studio Volksware Meterware Shop that breathes new life into rejected goods, emphasizing the degree to which consumption of brands and products by consumers creates opportunities to recreate. Two of their many projects illustrate the point in a fascinating way.

Discarded tables are assembled to form a seemingly infinitely long table. When a customer requests a “new” table, a piece is cut to individual specs, and each section takes on a new image as an original table.

In another example of Volksware’s re-thinking, the effects of the oversupply and mass production of fashion and clothing products is brought into question, at the same time offering a new use for existing goods in a by-the-meter carpet (see image above).

Artists working with this thinking, show us that creating something new does not always mean creating a bigger footprint. By reusing source material, they actually reduce the need for new production, and recycle ideas to create new materials and products.

In essence, re-thinking green.

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As consumers looking for green solutions, we expect the products we purchase to represent the intention of the business.

Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy isn’t organic, fair traded, or gmo free, however this company targets the mainstream, tween population to raise awareness, and educates children to act responsibly towards the environment.

Found inside a barrel of toxic waste, the message will reach a broad audience because it’s candy. So as they go on tour with a tween, all-girl band to summer camps educating 8-12 year old kids about their environmental impact they will also contribute to their tooth decay, insulin levels and ingestion of bt pesticides through gmo corn syrup. So here at ROOT we will inaugurate our greenwash category with this product. What will be next? Apocalypse Gum, you can’t blow up the world but you can blow up the world in you?

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Summer time inspires road trips. Whether you are inspired to visit national parks, friends and family, music festivals, or swimming holes, the interstates are crowded with campers and cars cruising down the highway.

In the spirit, Lucky Brand Jeans is cruising the States, from California to New York and back. The goal is to market their products at specific consumer targeted sites, events, and festivals. Lucky Brand Jeans has created a Denim Highway Bus, psychedelic tour, with the goal to see the country, visit the Boston Harbor 4th of July Festival and its own major stores. A website, soundtrack, and blog follow the tour.

This marketing strategy is interesting, and Root looks at a company that takes it further.

Guayaki Yerba Mate, a sustainable global brand, is heading to music festivals, bike races looking for like-minded businesses and consumers, and they are driving a bio-diesel bus. Educating through action, Guayaki’s desire is to represent conscious, sustainable business practices, and show how to do it. Their products are shade-grown, fair-traded and organic.

Responsible businesses inspire consumers to be aware of where a product comes and how it gets to them. Which road we decide to follow as consumers is important for the future of sustainable business practices around the world. And Guayaki is paving the road.

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As consumers become more aware of the vast array of products available, many make decisions based on why one is more sustainable than another. Current trends seen in marketing, use key words such as green and sustainable. It is up to the consumer to ultimately decide the intention behind the development of a product. Let’s look at two examples: the Swiffer and the OMop. In an interview with Inhabitat, the developer of Swiffer, Gianfranco Zaccai says -by doing a lot of research and observation in people’s homes— on the average, kitchen floors are washed once a week, and that requires a lot of hot water and detergent for washing - then more hot water for rinsing. People spend more time cleaning the mop than cleaning the floor.

Zaccai says the company worked hard to come up with a profitably sustainable solution rather than a profitable, but more harmful solution. His, was to create a mop that has dry and wet cloths, that are thrown “away” after each use - refills sold seperately.

Another offering in the the mop category was developed by Method. The Omop, comes with a starter kit containing a washable, microfiber mop pad, 3 compostable sweeping cloths, and non-toxic floor cleaner.

While we all seek convenience, the challenge is to weigh the cost. Swiffer is more covenient then the traditional mop, however the disposible cloths and petrol based chemicals that this product leaves behind leads to the important question- where is “away”? The Omop, takes sustainability a step further by providing washable mops and compostable cloths and biodegradable cleaner, leaving less questions about the environmental impact.

Still what’s wrong with a bucket and a mop?

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Acknowledging that since 1971, it has committed crimes in the name of environmental conservation, Greenpeace has unleashed its latest ad campaign. Some of the guilty are pictured in mug shots heralding their accomplishments. Via Adrants, see more images here.

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Spotted this on ThreeMinds, Denver-based ad agency Sukle Advertising +Design created this campaign for water conservation in Denver. Clever, simple, mindful.

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Brandchannel has an article featuring Dame Anita Roddick,
the founder of The Body Shop, the now ubiquitous natural body products chain found in airports and on high streets around the world. Roddick speaks to the power of business, moreso than politics or religion to change the way people act.

According to the article, one of Roddick’s biggest accomplishments is establishing 36 purchasing programs with impoverished farmers in 23 countries, including Brazil, Nicaragua, Zambia, Pakistan and India. Through them, the Body Shop buys herbs, nuts, almond oil, sesame seed oil and other ingredients for its moisturizers, creams and shampoos. In total, the company has business relationships with more than 5,000 families, but the economic spin-offs are felt by thousands more with schooling, training, HIV/AIDS awareness, health clinics and fresh water.

Within their own scale, Roddick calls upon businesses to use their power as activism, and to take creativity to the next level. At 64, still an activist, and in command of her choices, Roddick is an inspiration, who with her wealth and power as a creative social tool, continues to manifest real change in the world.

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