Eco fashion designers across the world just breathed a sigh of relief with the launch of Source4Style, a green fabric sourcing website spearheaded by Summer Rayne Oakes. Oakes came from researching sewage sludge toxins and IDing aquatic insects at Cornell University. Concerned that only a small segment of the human population love bugs and poop, Oakes took to New York’s runways to get the word out about the environment and sustainable design. It was during that time when she became known as the World’s First Eco-Model, founded her first company, authored Style, Naturally, hosted on Discovery’s Planet Green, and worked on greening brands like Payless, MODO, Portico and Aveeno. She’s now helping the design community get their sustainable groove on with Source4Style – an online destination to discover and source the latest eco-friendly materials from across the globe.
Summer Rayne Oakes looks over fabric swatches at Source4Style. Photo: courtesy Cartier Women’s Initiative Award
For far too long, sourcing those materials for earth-loving designers has been confined to trade shows, countless transcontinental calls and endless emails. Through the Source4Style marketplace, designers can discover the latest, most innovative and carefully-curated selection of eco materials. Summer sources these fabrics and finishes as a trendsetter, cultural anthropologist and materials expert. The site also shares their finds through a weekly Design Frontline newsletters. Source4Style members also have access to a Trend Sheet which fuse the latest trends in sustainability, global craft, color and street style to create the most cutting-edge sustainable design trend report yet.