dent of design, created a style that harked back to“ couture design and the timeless aesthetic that carries through.” The resulting clothing breaks the usual boundaries of high-performance apparel, fulfilling outdoor demands with a decidedly indoor fashion sense.
In the women’ s spring line, several knee-length skirts and dresses, made from recycled polyester, feature asymmetrical hems and accent stitching normally reserved for more delicate duds. Envisioned for summer, the men’ s Bermuda shorts and women’ s capris are made from 96 percent organic cotton with a touch of spandex for stretch. To complement the designs, the palette is what Galbraith calls“ investment colors”: greens, blues, and grays that are familiar to a clientele comfortable in both the urban jungle and the natural world.
Nau will launch its first line in January; it will be available only through the website( nau. com) or through unique retail stores called Webfronts. These boutiques, slated to open in Portland, Oregon, Boulder, Chicago, and Seattle in early 2007, aim to reduce resources used in distribution by keeping inventory low and offering customers a 10 percent discount and free shipping as incentives if they have clothes mailed to them from a warehouse.( Customers also have the option to take clothes home on the spot.)
Shoppers will discover another innovative practice at checkout: They’ re given a choice of 12 non-profit companies to which Nau will donate five percent of the sale. Jil Zilligen, vice president of sustainable business practices, explains that Nau gives customers the choice with the hope that“ they will be prompted to think what they as customers ask of companies and what they might ultimately demand of them.” ■
Nau uses a range of materials in its clothes, like organic cotton, recycled polyester, and cornderived PLA fiber.
BEAUTY PRODUCTS THAT ARE
GOOD ENOUGH
TO EAT
think you know what’ s in your organic shampoo? Think again. While the USDA has defined the meaning of“ organic” for food-labeling purposes, there are no restrictions on the term in the cosmetics industry— so a lipstick loaded with petrochemicals can be called organic as long as it uses a single organic ingredient.
To remedy the problem, cosmetics companies have debated setting their own standards.“ But if we’ re going to create another law for cosmetics, it’ s really going to confuse consumers,” says Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher. Which is why his newest venture, Intelligent Nutrients( intelligentnutrients. com), aims to use foodgrade organic ingredients in its toothpastes, lotions, and other personal care products— and to submit to USDA labeling standards.
This means that the products must contain 95 percent organic ingredients if they are to be labeled organic; anything less and a shampoo is just a shampoo. And they’ re not the only ones: Last year, the Organic Consumers Association won a battle with the government’ s National Organic Program, giving other personal-care companies the right to use the USDA Organic seal on their products.
Rechelbacher hopes that the steady push for certified organic personal-care products will inspire mainstream cosmetics companies to follow suit. In the meantime, all of Intelligent Nutrients’ profits will be donated to environmental and social justice charities.“ I’ m not doing this for money,” says
INTELLIGENT NUTRIENTS AIMS TO USE FOOD-GRADE ORGANIC INGREDIENTS.
Rechelbacher.“ I’ m going to go back to work and redesign consumer products so that they provide solutions.” If only all shampoos were this hardworking.
— Erika Villani
plentymag. com Feb / Mar / 07 | 71