5 Innovative Eco-Friendly Fibers of the Future

As gorgeous as organic cotton, hemp, peace silk and bamboo can be, they’re hardly the only eco-friendly fabrics around. In fact, some of the innovative new eco-friendly fibers are emerging that are way more sci-fi than granola. Check out the list gathered by Summer Rayne Oakes, eco-fashion model and activist, at The Huffington Post:

SILVER

Silver (yes the metal not the color) is commonly used in the medical and healthcare fields due to its known healing properties, but is slowly making its way into consumer markets, particularly in undergarments and athletic wear. Silver is a conductive element, which means it is naturally antimicrobial, thermally conductive, and electrically conductive. “The silver particles attach to the microbes and short-circuit them. Basically they suffocate,” says Bennett Fisher from Carolina Silver.

MORPHOTEX

Teijin Fibers Limited of Japan has recently produced Morphotex®. The biomimetic fabric refracts light like the wings of the Morpho blue butterfly, completely eliminating any need for pigment or dyes, which has always been a challenge for sustainable designers who love and want color. All the color seen on the fabric’s surface is created by the strength and angle of the light refraction against the material. Though extra dye is not used in the fabric, the material itself is made out of 85 percent polyester and 15 percent nylon. There is no word whether the manufacturers are using recycled polyester and nylon, which they have available in other products.

NETTLE

I was first introduced to nettle fabric by Norwegian designer, Leila Hafzi, who commonly works with artisans in Nepal. It was there where she saw craftswomen spinning the Himalayan Giant Nettle (also known as Allo), which grows in the mountains. Fabric from nettle has been used for thousands of years, but it fell out of favor as cotton became the fabric-of-choice. Nettle has many properties similar to linen, but it’s long staple can provide for some interesting fabrications if proper technology and scale is brought to the industry.

Read more about each fabric – and get the full list – over at The Huffington Post.

Link [The Huffington Post]

Summer Rayne Oakes Launches Book, “Style, Naturally”

Eco-model, activist, Treehugger writer and Planet Green contributor Summer Rayne Oakes – she who won the honor of “#1 Hottest Girl in Green” here at EarthFirst in 2008 – is going on tour in support of her new book, ‘Style, Naturally’, an ‘eco-style bible’ chock full of tips and color photos. The book launched yesterday at Amazon, and Treehugger has given us all a peek at what’s inside.

From Treehugger:

Style, Naturally is aimed at women “who love style, but may not have “environment” or “green” in their lexicon” says Summer Rayne. The approach is one of openly stylish seduction with 350 pages and 500+ images full of rich colours and beautiful images, showing how much fun we can all have with contemporary ethical fashion and beauty products.

Style, Naturally is very much geared towards the consumer showing the full range of what’s out there and how, where and why you should find it. The book is divided into two parts Eco Fashion and Eco-Beauty with an introduction and brief history of each, tips of the trade and then several chapters on each area.

It also goes in depth featuring interviews with industry insiders including many TreeHugger favourites such as Galahad Clark of ethical shoe brand Terra Plana, Blake Mycoskie of Toms Shoes, Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin and in the beauty section Horst Rechelbacher the founder of Aveda.

Style, Naturally is printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based inks and is part of the 1% for the Planet initiative, with proceeds going to ENERGY ACTION. Book tour dates are as follows (venue names are as yet unknown):

NYC – 10 February.
London Fashion Week – 20, 24 February
Los Angeles – 12-14 March,
Toronto 18-21 March
Washington DC – 26 March
San Francisco – April
Philidelphia – April
Vancouver – May

Link [Treehugger]

Summer Rayne Oakes and Payless Launch Eco Shoes

More Summer Rayne Oakes news, for all you fans! The eco-model, journalist and activist has teamed up with Payless Shoes to create a new line of ultra-affordable eco-friendly shoes for men and women. Shoes from the line, called Zoe and Zac, won’t sell for more than $30 a pair. And, if you’re skeptical about how green shoes from Payless could really be, Summer Rayne Oakes is here to tell you that it’s legit. She’s the brand’s sustainability strategist.

From Eco Chick:

“They have organic cotton bodies, the dyes are heavy-metal free, and all the metal details are nickel-free,” she said of the printed ballet flats, sneakers, flip-flops and espadrilles in the collection. Even the elastic band on one style is made from recycled PET. We also discussed adhesives, the material that makes up the foot beds and the soles, and without getting into all the chemistry specifics, I’ll just say that Summer and Payless covered a lot of the sustainability bases for the very first collection in their green line.

Payless is eager to “do a better job as corporate citizens”, according to the company’s spokesperson, Mardi Larson. Starre of Eco Chick was concerned about “the ghettoization of green”, fearing that companies will only market truly eco-friendly products at people who are already concerned about the environment, leaving everyone else with earth-trashing non-green stuff. Mardi’s response was that Payless hopes to “democratize green”.

While I’d normally be suspicious about something like this, the fact that Summer Rayne Oakes has a hand in the eco-friendliness of the line makes me totally confident that earth-friendly shoes will soon be affordable for all. It’s a great step in the right direction – we’ve got to make ‘green’ accessible for everyone!

Link [Eco Chick]
Photo credit: Eco Chick

Who’s Who in Green – Summer Rayne Oakes

There are few people who manage to not only call attention to important environmental issues, but do so in an effortlessly sexy, stylish and fun way. Summer Rayne Oakes is one of those people. The model, activist and television host is certainly genetically blessed, as anyone can see from her many eco-fashion spreads – but there’s far more to her than that. She’s smart, dedicated, and really into bugs. Seriously – she has an entomology degree. It’s just one of the many things that made her EarthFirst.com’s #1 Hottest Girl in Green, and deservedly so.

Summer Rayne grew up among Pennsylvania farmlands, and her experiences there led her on the path of protecting the earth. A dedicated naturalist from an early age, she was the youngest board member of the Environmental Advisory Council as a student. Summer Rayne graduated with honors from Cornell University and signed with Boss Models upon graduation. She soon won the Udall Environmental Scholarship, and worked to improve conservation programs “by successfully integrating human dimension aspects, scientific research and the intrinsic value of nature into comprehensive management plans.”

Her journey of cause-related modeling has brought her all over the world, as has her work in sustainable design and development projects. She’s also picked up plenty of accolades along the way, including Global Citizen by Vanity Fair, one of Outside’s Top Environmental Activists, Cosmopolitan’s Fun, Fearless Female of 2007 and one of Amica Magazine’s ‘Top 20 Trendsetters Under 40’.

She’s now a spokesperson, resident expert and the youngest member of the board of advisors for Planet Green. Her work has been featured on NPR, CNN, HGTV, Sirius Satellite Radio, MTV News, Discovery Channel News and many more outlets, and recent interviews have appeared in Elle magazine, Allure magazine and Shape magazine. She also writes for Lucire, PlanetGreen.com, Treehugger and The Huffington Post. She even created educational curriculum entitled ‘ECO FASHION 101’ that was launched in Philadelphia schools in 2005. Look for her book entitled Style, Naturally: The Global Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty this December.

If all of that sounds incredibly ambitious, exhausting and exhilarating, get this: she also helps run a boutique consultancy business that develops, implements and manages traditional, online and grassroots/guerilla campaigns across the globe. Her many high profile clients include Conde Nast, the Democratic National Convention ’08, Discovery Television and Sony Entertainment.

Watch Summer Rayne talk about conscious consumerism in this video clip:

In a personal statement on her website, Summer Rayne says, “I firmly believe that we all want—or at least would like to be (whether we know it or not)—part of something that is greater than all of us. This is why I am here. This is why you are here. Oftentimes I get the question, “What can I do? ” If questions answered questions, I would reply: “What are you capable of? ” Moreover, what are you interested in doing? That of course is not the answer anyone is looking for, but it serves as a rhetorical reminder of our own personal interest in making a difference. It touches on the assumption that you, like me, all want to do better, not only for ourselves, but the rest of the planet.”

All of this, and she’s only 23 – Summer Rayne’s green score is building fast and will undoubtedly go through the roof as she continues to dedicate her life to varied aspects of sustainability. We wish Summer Rayne much luck and success on her quest to green up the world.

Summer Rayne Oakes’ Green Score: 24,332

The Hottest Girl In Green: We May Be Obsessed With Summer Rayne Oakes

Can you blame us? It’s not every day that the world’s hottest Udall scholar takes notice of you, much less in a good way. So in honor of the girl in green most likely to make your heart skip a beat, we proudly present a spread from her modeling portfolio. Oh, and Ms. Entomology-degree-from-Cornell: it’s cicada season where we live right now, so if you want a once-in-17-years show, you know who to call.

For those of you that are scraping yourselves off the floor still, let me point out the massive difference in style in some of these photos. Girl’s got range, y’all.

All photos courtesy of Summerrayne.net