Summer Rayne Oakes is a model on the move. Known as The Eco-Model, this Ivy League-educated stunner has become one of the most prominent faces of the green-fashion movement in recent years. And chances are excellent that her latest projects — including a book and a shoe collection she designed for Payless — will gain major traction for ethical fashion in the coming year. 

Summer recently made time to chat with us about her book, her shoes, and her thoughts on the eco-fashion issues and what companies are really making the grade.

Tell us about your book, Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty. What inspired you to write it?

The original idea for the book was a series of guides, but four days before the book was due, my first publisher told me they wouldn’t be able to do recycled paper and full color. I wouldn’t settle for unrecycled paper. My book agent couldn’t pitch for three months due to hip surgery, but once we found another publisher (Chronicle), it took about six months to expand the book and transform it into what it is now, which is a lavishly designed style book with over 500 full-color photographs.

I’ve wanted to write a book ever since I found myself in the sustainable fashion industry seven or eight years ago. I really grew up in the industry. What drew me to fashion is its mediagenic appeal — and its ability to make a difference. Fashion and beauty provides the hook to allow you to tell the greater story in an unimposing, unassuming way. As much as this book is a style guide, it’s also a book that invites every woman who loves style to begin looking at what they wear or what they put on their bodies differently — but making it a style all their own. That’s style, naturally.

How has the industry changed since the beginning of the decade?

If I’d wanted to do a book in 2000, there wasn’t enough information out there to do it. Now the cream has risen to the top and there’s enough research available to write about these issues effectively and in an in-depth manner. It’s also changed because it’s moved from an independent designer level — which is still the root of the industry — to a more commercial, more accessible market. You’re seeing organic cotton at H&M, Target and Wal-Mart. And now even InStyle has a green editor.

You have your Zoe and Zac shoe collection coming to Payless this spring. How do your principles tie into the design?

Almost all of Payless’ shoes are vegetarian because leather is cost-prohibitive, so a lot of vegetarian and vegans shop there already.

It was interesting to take a look at the infrastructure of Payless — from supply-chain dynamics to partnership dynamics. They have a very efficient supply chain and they have long-standing relationships with their partners, from the manufacturers they work with to their designers, like Leila Rose and Patricia Field. They’ve really encouraged me to be involved and that is a tell-tale sign that the company wants to learn. It’s nice to be engaged on different levels with Payless and more specifically on the Zoe & Zac brand, from helping assist in more eco-friendly materials to helping identify what sustainability and progress means to Payless. That’s all been really cool.

Initially the collection is for the aspirational 24-year-old girl, but eventually it will morph into family brand. We’re starting with women’s casual, then we’re going to launch kids and women’s dress shoes and eventually men’s. We want people to say, “Wow, I could totally rock those out!” We’re keeping on trend but working with environmentally friendly materials like hemp, linen and organic cotton canvas, water-based glues, eco-foam beds and nickel-free metals. We’ll also be updating styles a few times a year to keep them fresh and fashion-forward.

As a fashion insider, what can you tell EthicalStyle readers about what’s going on behind the scenes at some mainstream brands? Are you seeing that more leading designers are interested in ethical concepts?

I think many of the high-end designers are still trying to wrap their heads around it. Some of them want to do a one-off thing and get some press for it. But people are starting to ask questions. One major brand I talked to — one you’d see in Bryant Park [during Fashion Week] — is internally interested in it but not yet prepared to do anything externally. Another major brand is interested in creating a sustainability foundation, which is a really serious endeavor. It’s catching on but it’s quite slow at the high-end brands because they are pre-established and not accustomed to incorporating this element into their pre-existing brand structure, which is understandable. Barney’s, however, has been really supportive of brands wanting to go this direction, but it needs to be scaled up in a more serious way.

You’re also noticing brands like Levi’s and Gap and Nike sharing best practices. More and more companies within the same industry are collaborating with one another. You didn’t see that five or ten years ago. I know Levis is working on wastewater and restoration programs over in Asia — a project that I believe is supported by the NRDC [the Natural Resources Defense Council]. And Gap recently came on board too because all these companies manufacture in the same places.

Companies are learning sustainability doesn’t necessarily equal cost. They are doing it for efficiency reasons too. I mentioned being involved on different levels with Payless. Well, they were already doing box optimization when freighting shoes. The basic premise is when you have a smaller shoe, you use a smaller box so you can ship more. If you take a look at your operations and not just your sourcing, you can figure out how to be environmentally efficient and also cost-effective.

You’re a proponent of values-based modeling. How do you define that?

The basic idea is working with brands, projects, and companies that are more environmentally- or socially-conscious, or who are at least wanting to go that route. I’m all about celebrating in the spirit of going green. That’s the basics, but for me it’s a lot more than that. I do a lot of work — not just as a spokesperson — but as an involved advocate and consultant behind the scenes. That’s how I prefer to work.

It’s different from traditional agencies. My agent doesn’t send me out on normal casting calls. It’s not as if they scroll down my measurements and send me out for a catalog job. They arrange meetings with the heads of companies and we have a conversation, asking them where they want to take their direction of the brand, if they were thinking of incorporating sustainability principles, and if they’d like to see a partnership form. That’s how I got started with Payless. It was nice to see where their hearts were — and it’s a privilege for me because I get an opportunity to work with brands that I truly believe in. I do this on a regular basis with my other partners at SJR, the strategic consulting, market-research, and brand-management firm I’m a part of, so it helps give a really well-rounded approach to the tasks at hand.

Looking back, it’s really been a growing experience — first starting out with Organic Portraits back in 2000, which was an avant-garde fashion/conservation project to developing “Behind the Label,” the first monthly international-print editorial strictly focused on sustainable fashion [for Lucire magazine]. I did BTL because sustainable designers just weren’t getting the press they deserved. In many cases, it was the first fashion press they got! Then developing ECOFASHION 101, a sustainability education curriculum, which I’m circling back around to now.

I think values-based modeling is really an important concept and it’s great to be defining it as I go. It’s so important to be able to align your values with who you are as a person. I do believe you need to stand for something and be a catalyst to guide people and companies along the way.

Who do you think has the most power to effect change in ethical fashion? Designers or consumers?

It’s hard to pit one against the other because you can’t have one without the other. So many of the trends are being defined by people. I was conversing with Wayne over at models.com, and we agreed that the fashion editor is so last season. The power has moved to the masses and the trendsetters are the girls who take photos of their daily wardrobe in the mirror. That’s just far more interesting. They’re creating the trends on the street and the buzz is happening on the ground. People get inspired by really great design or really great style. Designers come in to inspire those consumers. And designers (who happen to be green) add another layer of value to someone’s wardrobe and inspire a whole industry to change.

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Summer Rayne Oakes’ book Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty comes out on February 1 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. Her Zoe and Zac shoe collection launches in March 2009 in 1,000 Payless stores and online at Payless.com.