Fast Company: Nau

Happy Memorial Day...

Fast Company has been the voice of the new business attitude for a decade or so, since it was an inch-thick, ad-stuffed rag documenting the rise and inevitable fall of the dotcom gold rush. Flip through it today and you'll still be inspired by tales of businesses new and old (from SunTechnics to Disney in the June issue) masterfully story-told by Chuck Salters and Alan Deutschman and Jennifer Reingold, who have been doing it for years now.

You'll also notice an increasing chunk of real estate in each passing issue that's dedicated to green, clean tech, socially entrepreneurial and otherwise good and inspiring businesses. For my money, it's still the editorial voice of progressive and change-oriented business leadership (completely off topic: check out Deutschman's 2005 article Change or Die- one of the two or three most influential articles I've ever read.)

The June issue is no disappointment, with a great profile of Nau, the Portland-based offspring of several Patagonia, Nike and Marmot alums and an upstart high-end clothing company built on redefining the clothing business, from production and labor practices to a whopping 5% philanthropy pledge. (FC points out that a typical business' philanthropy is .047% of sales, and even Patagonia's is about 1%.)

It's not just an Optimist business; it's a great start-up story, reminiscent of the start-up story of Keen Footwear, which FC rival Business 2.0 (another reliably inspiring mag) profiled two years ago. Like Nau, Keen was created by thoughtful, well-connected industry vets (footwear, in this case) who were presumably successful and clearly inspired to do even better than their current employers- a not-too-shabby group of corporate citizens in their own rights- were doing. Keen launched in an incredible 60 days, according to lore, while Nau raised substantial capital to fund it's unique "Webfront" retail model, which encourages customers to order online, even from within the store, to cut down overhead. (One complaint: Nau.com is striking but flash-heavy, in my humble opinion, for a transaction-oriented destination.)

I can't wait until I can outlay for Nau's Courier windshirt (nor Keen's Portsmouth kicks, for that matter). In the meantime, I'll proudly wear their stories.

The June FC also asks who will emerge as the Home Depot of the green shopper- a great question that I wish I was in position to answer, because I agree that it will be a lucrative and honorable big box retailing opportunity. They also point out three cool green-leaning blogs- the top three at right. Check them out.

The Optimist Company, in name, is not a borrow from FC (our name is in the spirit of traditional "Massachusetts Bay Trading Company"-style names) but I nonetheless throw a big, hearty nod to Fast Company, which has been inspiring for a looong time.