When Nau came onto the fashion scene a few years ago, it appeared to be an even higher end, more exclusive PataGucci-type urban-outdoor hybrid fashion house, with an emphasis on urban style and sustainably sourced materials. Those of us who went to the compostmodern conference this year remember hearing Mark Galbraith, VP of Product Design, answer tough questions about why they grew their organic cotton in Turkey and manufactured their clothing in Thailand. (It turns out that Turkey is the world's largest supplier of organic cotton--a burgeoning industry initially launched by demand from companies like Nike and Patagonia--and that Thai textile companies were the first to develop ways to process organic cotton.)

What I wondered from the beginning, though, was whether Nau could survive with sustainability as its only real point-of-view. They attempted to come out with some unique designs, but weren't innovative enough in this department to justify the cost of their products. They sat the fence between functionality versus style, and with the slowing economy this ambiguity is likely a major cause of their failure to generate sufficient operating revenue.

Lucky for us, this means you can buy Nau's high-quality clothing made of recycled polyester and organic wools and cotton at half-off the original price, until they sell out. They only sell through their retail stores or online, so don't bother looking for their products at REI or Nordstrom.

In other eco-fashion news, Patagonia has uploaded the Footprint Chronicles, an interactive and informative module that provides transparency on the design, manufacturing and distribution of their products.