Glossary

Alpaca wool is an amazing material for garments, as it is super soft and extra warm due to the extra air pockets in the fibers, thus allowing it to be a bit thinner and warmer. Alpaca wool is naturally hypoallergenic, pill resistant, odor resistant, weatherproof, and very durable, making it a great choice for sweaters, outerwear, scarves, and the blanket you keep in the ice box more commonly referred to as an office, and basically anything that needs to keep you warm.

Alpacas are one of the "greenest" animals around. From adapting to harsh environments like the Andes, their soft foot pads (rather than hooves) leave the terrain undamaged and compared to other grazing animals, they need very little food and water, greatly decreasing their eco-footprint.

When it comes to shearing Alpacas, it's a completely harmless, painless process that is often very helpful to their overall comfort level. In the Andes, their annual "haircut" will occur in the Spring when weather warms up, and late fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

A DWR is a treatment applied to textiles that prevents water from being absorbed into the fabric by creating a bead and roll effect on the surface of the fabric, keeping you much drier than typical fabrics. Look for PFC-free DWR's.

Peace silk instead of regular silk in order to preserve, rather than end the life of the silk worm. Traditionally, the silk worms are farmed, then boiled in order to not destruct the long silk fibers. In peace silk, the threads are woven together after the worm has hatched into a butterfly and set free.

PFC's are used for a variety of industrial reasons in commercial applications such as carpeting, food packaging, cookware, clothing treatments (including traditional DWR), and more. These are removed from the DWR fabrics that Nau uses because of their synthetic making and inability to quickly break down in the environment. Because of other companies' lack of concern over the use of PFC's, scientists have found traces of PFC's in air, water, ice caps, wildlife, and even human beings. Studies have shown them to be harmful to living organisms, so we don't know about you, but we don't want anything to do with them.

Tencel is a brand of super soft, moisture wicking fabric made out of completely traceable, renewable resources. Made from Lyocell fiber (think rayon meets bamboo), which is made produced from dissolved tree pulp and extruded into fibers. The difference between Tencel and Lyocell, however, is that Tencel comes from sustainably managed, farmed forests which ensures complete traceability, and a closed-loop process that recovers and reuses over 99% of the chemicals used to make it.

The eucalyptus trees used in Tencel do not need irrigation or pesticides to grow, so they can flourish in areas typically unsuitable for forming. They require only one-fifth the amount of land area as cotton to be grown and harvested.

Tencel is extra easy to care for, very similar to cotton. Nau uses Tencel from a trusted, long-time partner of theirs in Austria. You can learn more about the fiber from the Lenzing Group, here.