Last year several senior Nike and Patagonia employees resigned their positions and decided to join an unknown start-up company, which was incorporated as “Under The Wire.” Since that time, rumors have been floating around, primarily based on speculation. In Sustainable Industry Journal, a few facts emerged. Under The Wire was a temporary name for the 18 employee company.

Former Patagonia employee Jill Zilligen was appointed the company’s VP of environment, former Nike and Patagonia executive, Chris Van Dyke is the president, Ian Yolles, former Nike on-line marketing Guru was appointed VP of marketing, and Eric Brody, also a former Nike executive, was appointed sustainability manager.

More recently, Under The Wire has taken a step up in its public appearance and created a website and given itself a more permanent name. The company is calling itself NAU, a Maori word for greeting.

In an exclusive interview, Yolles told BOSS that it is still too early to talk about product in any significant way, but the company will go to market with outdoor apparel, both technical and lifestyle. Keeping true to the Patagonia roots of many of its employees, Yolles said that sustainability will be one of the company’s core values, across all practices from internal company guidelines to vendor and sourcing partners.

One of the more pervasive rumors in the industry was that Nike was funding the development of the brand; but Yolles was quick to discredit this. “Several of the senior managers have close ties to Nike, but it is not funding the company. I wouldn’t want to add any fuel to that rumor,” he said.

NAU will be based in Portland, Oregon, and while they are still very early in the product development process, Yolles was clearly excited about the prospects for the company.