Nau is a new unconventional outdoor company with an interesting sustainable approach.

They are trying to redefine success by using business as a force for change, blending profitability and philanthropy, by participating in it and inspiring philanthropy in others. Nau says they only deserve to exist if their products and practices are capable of contributing positive, lasting, and substantive change. “We want to be that company, that positive, lasting, substantive company. We’ll screw up sometimes, but we’ll own up to our mistakes and keep moving forward, questioning assumptions in our efforts to get better.”
I love that Nau’s manifesto is human. They are not saying we are always all of these things, but simply that they aspire to be, that they are continually, consciously striving to be better, like you and I, trying everyday. Nau is saying that if they do good things, it will come out naturally, but most important is their focus - to always strive to demonstrate the highest level of citizenship in everything they do.

Nau is a perfect example of this cultural shift - people digging deep for more authenticity, more meaning in life. They want to do, buy, see, and participate in things that have value, that look outside their world at the bigger picture.

With this authentic and sustainable cultural shift comes a new way of marketing, a new way of speaking to the consumer, which is displayed in Nau’s manifesto.

Perhaps the earliest example of a sustainability focused outdoor company is Patagonia, whose mission statement is “Build the best product, do no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”

Another example is Marmot - an outdoor apparel and equipment company. Their recent ad says nothing about their product, but instead talks about the dZi Foundation whom they have partnered with in helping to develop sustainable health and education programs for Himalayan communities - "Championing cross-cultural stewardship, social entrepreneurs and pioneering philanthropists at home and abroad."

There is a huge trend with outdoor company's taking a sustainable/eco approach. Maybe this is because their target customer is personally and deeply connected to the very things we are trying to save, to the mountains and glaciers, to the forests and rivers. These are the people who are seeing the damage first hand, who have experiences the hard-won rewards of the wilderness, and who understand the vital importance of making immediate positive changes. To them, the joy and meaning that the outdoors has provided them is immeasurable, embedded in the very fibers of who they are. They are protecting their passions.