ENVIRONMENTAL & 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 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 will never make false statements.

Here is a quick overview:

  • NAKED records are made using groundbreaking new injection moulding machine (using around 90% less electricity)
  • NAKED records made from non-toxic recyclable PET plastic (instead of PVC which is toxic & takes 1000 years to decompose
  • NAKED records Sleeves made from sustainable PEFC certified paper & EPEA certified inks
  • NAKED packaging is plastic free & FSC certified recyclable packaging
  • Low Carbon deliveries by DHL/Deutsche Post Globalmail 'Go Green'

And 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) contain highly toxic chemicals, take around 1000 years to decompose and have a very high carbon footprint. 

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. NAKED' first four releases were manufactured by Deepgrooves in Netherlands which had been long recognised as the World's Greenest Vinyl Pressing Plant and was the most sustainable choice at the time.

NAKED's 5th release - The Five Ghosts by Stars - was NAKED's first record to be pressed by GVR in the Netherlands. GVR pioneered a brand new way of pressing vinyl records and created the World's first vinyl pressing machine to use injection moulding rather than traditional steam pressing.  GVR's new energy saving manufacturing process has reduced energy usage by around 80-90% (an exact figure will be published upon completion of an ongoing independent Life Cycle Assessment). 

NAKED Record Club's 'The Five Ghosts' by Stars was one of the first albums to be pressed on this groundbreaking new machine which is still one of only two of its type in the World. We expect that all future NAKED records will be pressed on this type of machine. When we sent Torq Campbell from Stars his copies of 'The Five Ghosts' he was blown away and told us that (despite having released 9 albums and multiple singles on vinyl) Stars music has never sounded better than on NAKED's eco-vinyl release!.

Other eco-friendly vinyl record innovation

In the short time since NAKED launched there have been some incredible innovations in eco-friendly vinyl. Pressing plants are making vinyl records by recycling old records and others are recycling plastic salvaged from the ocean. And most recently Evolution Music have created the World's first bioplastic records.

NAKED is constantly researching these new innovations and meeting the people behind them. We will continue to carefully monitor all new innovation in vinyl record manufacturing and at the current time we firmly believe that we are using the most environmentally responsible techniques on the planet capable of producing records without any compromise to sound quality.

Welcome Tom Hughes - NAKED's new Sustainability Director

We were thrilled when Tom Hughes joined NAKED management team. Tom is not only a university lecturer with a masters in environmental management and a PIEMA certification which allows him to independently evaluate sustainability but he's an expert in plastics and injection moulding. Click here to learn more about Tom and other members of the NAKED team here.

A fair deal for all NAKED artists 

At NAKED we treat all artists we work with as friends and partners. We share decision making and (whenever possible) financial profits. NAKED was co-founded by a former professional musician and we understand how difficult it is for many musicians to make a decent living from music.   When artists own or control their music rights we profit share. When we are one step removed from the artist (for instance when music rights are owned by a record label) we work with the artist and label as closely as possible to ensure that the artist gains maximum benefit from the NAKED release.

Ethical and sustainable merchandise (Organic, Fair Wear and Vegan)

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.