Nau Inc. has found a buyer, less than two months after the Portland-based outdoor retailer shuttered and bid “Goodbye for Nau” on its Web site.
Horny Toad Activewear Inc., a Santa Barbara-based active wear firm, bought the five-door sustainable concept brand that closed after 14 months in business, a demise its management attributed to the drying up of credit.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
When a scaled-back Nau reopens on Aug. 1 with about a dozen of its 60 original employees, Nau will no longer sell through its own stores, but rather wholesale in about 20 “like-minded retailers,” like Horny Toad’s concept store Lizard Lounge in Portland, and on nau.com.
“We’ve been fans of the concept from afar and were very sad to hear the news it closed,” said Gordon Seabury, chief executive officer of Horny Toad. “While it was virtually impossible for Nau to scale back in its current big idea form as the economy changed, we are able to treat it more as a startup and scale it back.”
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Founded in 2005, Nau’s plan was to design and sell outdoor apparel made from renewable materials, such as recycled polyester and merino wool, as well as give a portion of sales to consumer-selected charities, practices that will continue under the new owner.