Going Natural, "the magazine for nude living," is shedding sheets this year with a move to less printed editions and a revamped approach to its digital version.

The quarterly title, published by the Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) and the Fédération québécoise de naturisme (FQN), will continue to produce four issues a year, but with only two of those releases taking the form of ink on paper. "It's a compromise for the time being," said president Karen Grant, referencing letters of lamentation from some longtime readers. "We'll see how that works."


The current digital edition is available through Zinio but Grant says the relaunched version will be hosted on the FCN's website. As it won't be a replica edition, thus slowed by a print production schedule, content will be more up to date.

Going Natural, launched 1986, was faced with increasing printing and shipping costs on one end and the ease of digital communication on the other. "With information and news being so readily available online, if you're not current you're boring," Grant said.

So while a chunk of readers migrated to online naturist content, "the cost of the magazine was going up and up and up." Grant estimates that a single issue's total costs reached near $16,000.

The FCN is a national organization that promotes the naturist lifestyle, which goes beyond recreational nudism and sees nakedness as part of a holistic practice for mind, body and spirit. Grant says the cost of producing a print magazine was no longer an efficient use of the group's finances.

"We are an advocacy and education organization," she said, explaining that savings will be reallocated toward more advocacy work. "I can reach a lot more people through the web than I can with the publication right now. All over the world."

The FCN is also concerned with reaching a younger audience that might regard naturists as "a bunch of grey haired, chubby, maternal looking grandmas and grandpas."

"It's got nothing to do with that," Grant said. "Naturism is a life philosophy; a family-life philosophy. If you're looking to influence the next generation, you reach out to them in their language."