Nau is the time

Nau is the time
Green retailer Nau lives, breathes and builds sustainability

By Sree Roy, Contributor
March 01, 2008

Stephen Cridland, Portland, Ore.

We're not allowed to have garbage cans at our desks," says Scott Fedje, creative director of retail for outdoor apparel chain Nau, giving the perfect example of the retailer's commitment to sustainability. "If you can't recycle it, you have to do the 'walk of shame' to the trash can." This revealing fact about the retail chain's Portland, Ore.-based headquarters (which happens to be LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—certified) speaks to the company's core philosophy of sustainability, a philosophy that is showcased in its first stores.

Nau (pronounced "now") was incorporated three years ago, and its prototype store in Bellevue, Wash., opened in May 2007. When written in lowercase letters, "nau" (a Polynesian word meaning "welcome") is an ambigram—meaning it reads the same upside down. To the company, this represents the balance it wants to achieve, plus a penchant to turn a few retail rules upside down. For each customer purchase of the company's apparel (frequently made of recycled polyester or organic cotton or wool), 5 percent of the proceeds go to a charity of the customer's choice. "The company formed around the big idea of a for-profit organization that would give money to those in need," Fedje explains. The customer can choose from Nau's pre-selected short-list of national, regional and local non-profits that vary from store to store.

All of the chain's store designs follow sustainable practices (starting with location selection and going all the way through material selection and build out), though only certain stores, like the company's Boulder, Colo., store, are LEED-certified. "All of the designs follow the same procedure, but the cost and logistics of LEED certification isn't always practical. We'll certify every 10th store," Fedje says. In addition, the retailer's upcoming San Francisco and Portland stores will be part of a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) pilot program that seeks to specifically certify retail designs (currently retail designs fall under the general "commercial" interiors umbrella).

The environmentally friendly design begins with the store's small size. "We have a product line that would fit a 4,000-sq.-ft. store, but we brought it down to about 2,000 sq. ft.," Fedje says. This reduction in square footage lowers the quantity of building materials consumed and the amount of energy needed to light, heat and cool the store. The company manages to fit its product line into the small space through a unique "Ship to You" concept—offering a 10 percent discount and free shipping to customers who let Nau mail them their purchases, instead of taking them home directly from the store. "We centralize our inventory, so we're not paying exorbitant real estate just for stock," Fedje says. Currently, more than half of customers take advantage of the Ship to You offer, a strong start to the chain's eventual goal of 70 percent customer participation.

The minimalist yet warm design of the store is in itself a metaphor for the outdoor environment. "With the design, we really wanted to connect customers back to where the product is intended to be used—the natural world," explains Jeffrey Kovel, principal architect at Portland-based Skylab Design Group. "We spent a lot of time studying the transition between the urban and the natural worlds, and it came down to the transition between a grid and a more organic form. At that point, we came up with the metaphor of a synthetic version of the natural world."

This interpretation of the natural world is visible in various elements of the store design. For example, uniquely cut recycled aluminum and reclaimed wood display tables are inspired by boulders; kiosks in tall aluminum displays are "trees;" the ceiling represents a forest canopy; and the wall shelving represents canyons and varying terrain. "We designed it to be like a diorama at a natural history museum, where you're looking through the 'woods' of the store and connecting this vision to a way of life—natural elements, sustainable products and people who care about the world," Kovel says.

Of course, each element also keeps with the store's green principles. The modular shelving is made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified MDF that is formaldehyde free. "The modular shelving made it easy for us to control our waste," Kovel says. "And if a store needs to be moved to a different location, you can move modular designs easily, instead of taking them to the landfill."

The "product trees" are environmentally friendly aluminum stands housing touchscreens that give customers product information in electronic form, thereby eliminating paper waste. Customers can take a "ScanCard," a physical card that has the product's picture, style number and price on it, to one of these kiosks to learn more about it before making a purchase.

An eye-catching photomural on the back wall is also a communication device. Embedded in the wall are two more touchscreens, each giving customers detailed information about the charities they can donate to when making purchases. The photomural itself is made of recycled corrugated cardboard and printed with eco-friendly ink. Stores are encouraged to recycle or repurpose the cardboard when changing out the display. For example, Nau's Chicago store donates the cardboard to a local elementary school.

The lighting in the store is mostly ceramic metal halide, which meets LEED certification standards. A few MR16s were added over the reclaimed-wood cashbar for sparkle.

Whenever possible, the retailer tries to use existing materials leftover from the previous tenant, Fedje explains. For the Bellevue store's flooring, the design team chose to sand back the existing concrete flooring, fill in the chips, and add a new coating on top to make it as good as new.

In its next round of stores, Nau will be enhancing the way it informs its customers about the store's green features. "Currently, we have a poster in the store that talks about the features, like why we used a certain material and where it came from," Fedje says. "But we'd rather have it be more of a discovery. We're going to create placards and spread them throughout the store, so customers can find out about different elements of the store as they walk through it."

The young retailer will have plenty of inspiration to improve and tweak its innovative design—it has four more confirmed locations (Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco) for the first part of 2008 and is signing additional leases for the rest of the year and into 2009.

DDI's Green Scene 2008 report, which bundles the full articles from March 2008's Green Scene section covering multiple retailers, is available as a PDF complete with photos. Click here to purchase the PDF.