Awhile ago I came across Nau a clothing line company based out of Portland that focuses on eco-friendly active wear.  You may remember them as the retail store that carried samples of their products, and customers had to order their purchases via a kiosk in the store where they would receive their products within 2-3 days to help cut overhead costs.

A couple of months ago their business model ended up failing and Nau had to close up shop.  Due to an overwhelming support from fans on their product and Partners for a Change program (philanthropic program), Santa Barbara based company Horny Toad, stepped in and bought Nau in order to create Nau 2.0.

The new business model will not open it up to brick & mortar, but instead are looking to open it up to outdoor dealers and urban boutiques.  For now Nau 2.0 will focus on e-commerce sales and plan to launch strong with their HO 08′ line in October 2008.

Source: Treehugger

NIECEE’s TAKE AWAYS:

• Mass response. Because of the outcry from their fans on their blog, Horny Toad saw the massive responses and knew that Nau had the right idea in mind with their business practices. They just had to help the model that struggled within a tough economy and industry.

• Businesses focusing on E-Commerce. Small and corporate retailers are looking to other avenues to help their business model and some are looking to e-commerce as a focus.  Guess Inc reported that they will be closing 220 of their stores and plan to triple its e-commerce business over the next three years by focusing on launching language specific websites for their European markets.