THE SHOP
Located on West Holly Street and shaded by the trees and nearby shops, Naked Clothing is home to a new type of clothing—clothing with a conscience. The shop is new to the downtown Bellingham area, and is located in the old Merch-Bot space. Naked Clothing has been open since October 31, 2013.
ATMOSPHERE
Bright and relaxing oasis.
KEY PEOPLE
Jeff Kraus created Naked Clothing in 1999. The store’s mission is to provide high quality clothing that is flattering and made from materials that are gentle on the environment.
Their motto, “To wear is human, but naked is divine!”
Not only do they sell environmentally conscious clothing, but they also sell naturally dried flower wreaths, local vegan chocolates and upcycled jewelry. Among their eclectic mix of offerings, they sell musical instruments that local artisans have crafted from gourds. Kraus also offers custom screen printing.
He started out screen printing T-shirts while still attending Western Washington University in 1994. After college, Kraus traveled around the West Coast to different venues, cities and festivals like the Oregon County Fair, the Green Festival, the Okanagan Barter Faire and others, providing hemp and organic cotton clothing to shoppers. He met his wife Amy at the Oregon Country Fair.
Amy is now a full-time partner and is always in the Bellingham store. When she’s not in the store though, she sings, teaches voice lessons and does creative consulting for Be Human Marketing.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND
Naked Clothing specializes in local, organic and environmentally conscious clothing for all body types. They carry sizes XS to 4X in men and women sizes. Their clothing is made from hemp and other eco-friendly materials like bamboo.
Hemp clothing protects the skin by naturally filtering UV light, resists bacterial growth and breathes well, which prevents odors. Also, hemp is four times stronger than cotton, which allows it to remain strong when washed, last longer and retain color better than any other fabric. It also gets softer the more it’s worn. Hemp uses 1/20th the amount of water of regular cotton to grow, can be rain-fed and doesn’t affect the nutrients in the soil like regular cotton.
Whether customers shop to save the environment or just want a cute new shirt, customers can leave Naked Clothing, bag in hand, knowing they’re doing their part to lessen their impact on nature and leave a stylish impact on the world around them.
OWNER’S FAVORITE
Amy really loves the bamboo underwear they carry because they are comfortable, antibacterial and breathable, which is nice. She also loves the hemp shirts that they screen-print locally because they are comfortable and stylish.
