ENVIROMENTAL & ETHICAL

Operating in an ethical way is of crucial importance to NAKED. We are passionate about the environment and the urgent need to combat climate catastrophe and we place sustainability at the core of everything we do. We cannot claim to be perfect, or to have yet reached carbon-zero, but each of NAKED's operational processes has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. Rest-assured we are working very hard to get there!

Validating our supplier's ethical and green credentials is second nature to us.  Avoiding falling into ever-increasing greenwashing traps is of paramount importance and we invest considerable time and money in personally undertaking hands-on research into all of our supply chains. Only this way can we personally guarantee NAKED customers that we walk the walk and don't just talk the talk.

Here are some of NAKED's key operating principles:

Eco-friendly vinyl records

Unfortunately traditionally pressed vinyl records (which make up over 99% of new vinyl records currently being made) are toxic, take around 1000 years to decompose and have a high carbon footprint. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CLIMATE IMPACT OF VINYL RECORDS 

No NAKED records have ever been made in a traditional vinyl pressing plant.  Instead every NAKED record is made from eco-friendly vinyl with sustainably made sleeves. Most of NAKED' records have been manufactured in Deepgrooves - long recognised as the World's Greenest Vinyl Pressing Plant. Deepgrooves makes non-toxic and recyclable records and was built from the ground up to operate sustainably. It is 99% carbon neutral and fully circular (which means that all waste is recycled). 

NAKED's 5th release - The Five Ghosts by Stars - is NAKED's first record to be pressed by Green Vinyl Records (GVR) in the Netherlands. GVR is pioneering a brand new way of pressing vinyl records and has created the World's first vinyl pressing machine which uses injection moulding rather than traditional steam pressing. It is the use of steam (with the associated water boilers and condensers) which give traditional vinyl pressing plants their huge carbon footprints. Early GVR analysis showed energy savings of 70% (compared to traditional vinyl pressing machines) and when we visited the GVR plant in October 2022 to see the new pressing machine for ourselves energy savings were being recorded in excess of 90%. The Five Ghosts by Stars was one of the first albums to be pressed on this groundbreaking new machine. GVR, in common with Deepgrooves, only manufacture using recyclable non-toxic plastic.  

Green vinyl innovation

In the short time since NAKED launched there have been some incredible innovations in eco-friendly vinyl. Most notably, Evolution Music in the UK have created the World's first bioplastic records and Green Vinyl Records in the Netherlands have created the World's first vinyl pressing machine which doesn't use steam leading to a dramatic reduction in energy usage. 

NAKED is constantly researching these new innovations, meeting the people behind them and visiting their premises. At the current time, we regard Deepgrooves and GVR as being the two pressing plants most able to provide NAKED customers with great sounding eco-friendly records. But we will continue to carefully monitor all advances in vinyl record manufacture to ensure that we continue to provide our customers with the most superb sounding sustainable records on the planet. We are extremely hopeful NAKED records will be made from bioplastic soon but we will not make this leap until sound quality is proven to be just as good as the records we are making now CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LATEST VINYL INNOVATIONS.

A fair deal for all NAKED artists

We treat the artists behind NAKED's releases as friends and partners. We actively share the decision making process along with the financial profits. Our artists only commit to promotional activities that they are comfortable with. Although contractually we are sometimes one step removed from the artist (for instance, when the rights to the music are owned by a third party) we still seek their blessing and input before we start the project. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Ethical and sustainable merchandise

Finding merch which looks great, fits well and is durable when washed (not to mention sustainably made and ethical) is never easy - but we're proud to say we've done it!

All NAKED wear is manufactured by Stanley/Stella whose clothing is certified Organic, Fair Wear and Vegan by Global Organic Textile Standards GOTS, People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animal PETA, Fair Wear Foundation and OEKO-TEX. Our designs are all printed using non toxic water based OEKO-TEX certified inks.