Around a year and a half ago, Natalie and I met this mysterious man. He was everywhere we were. Out to coffee; there he was. At a talk; there he was. The Environmental Building Supply store? There he was.
Maybe people are just wired to recognize patterns, but I took it as invitation to introduce myself. Predictably, the conversation started like this: “Hi. We see you everywhere. I’m Austin.” We had a nice little chat about whatever, and we went our separate ways.
A couple of weeks later while we were in line for coffee before a ride, someone tapped my shoulder. You guessed it. It was him. “Do you guys do a lot of riding?” Why yes we do! In no time we were talking bikes, and had mentioned that we were starting up a bike company. As chance would have it, he was starting up a company too. But when pressed on the details, he kindly said “I can’t really talk about it.”
Fast forward a year or so, open up the latest issue of Outside Magazine, and you have Nau. And there he is, the very same guy; and he is aiming to change the way you think about and buy clothes.
I really like thinking about companies. Especially start ups. When you start your own, the sky is the limit. You can be as cool or as lame as you want, and there is always a lot to think about, too much to do, and lots of questions that need answers. For example: What does your company do, and how are you going to support yourself? Those are the easy questions. But is it fun? What makes it different? Who is your role model? What does it look like? Sound like? Feel like? If your company was in the kitchen with a cup of joe, what would it want to talk about?
These are questions that the gang at Nau has clearly been thinking about. Shirts made from corn. Jackets made from recycled polyester. A Flickr page, and a little love for BikePortland on their blog. They are a brand new brand, but they intentionally don’t have a logo. They are going to contribute 5% of what you buy to the charity of your choice. And to top it off, they haven’t even officially launched yet.
Considering I can’t even look at a pair of jeans without thinking of the gallon of pesticides that went into them, I am looking forward to their intro. But before they launch, I have to mention that I am really impressed with the thought they have been putting into it. We wish you guys the best of luck, and I am sure we will see you around.
