Sustainable shoes for under $30? You got that right.

A couple weeks ago Payless and I opened up the showroom doors to over 100 magazine editors (and a few lucky bloggers) to grab a sneak peak at the sustainable footwear  and accessories line we’ve been developing under the label, Zoe & Zac. Around 2PM we had a bit of a lull in traffic, so I snuck back into the design area with Nancy to work out some accessory ideas. It’s safe to say that the editors liked what they saw, which is always a good lithmus test.

chatting it up with editors at the Payless showroom. Clothing shout-outs: Dress – Beau Soleil; Sweater – Lara Miller; Ring – Dandi Maestre; Necklaces  – Ombre Claire, and the shoes “coming soon” compliments of Payless.

We’ll be starting off with women’s casual footwear, jewelry and bags; release some children’s looks; build up to women’s dress shoes; and then launch a men’s collection. We’ve begun to incorporate organic cotton,  linens, hemps, water-based glues, reduced-metal dyes, PET, recycled rubber (minimum 20%), eco-foam beds (a super cool alternative to conventional PVC foams and similar in chemical composition to Kevlar). The name Zoe & Zac came to be after some quant/qual studies on names Payless customers loved and that one quickly rose to the top. We all loved it too because it’s so young, fun and fresh and sure as hell doesn’t scream “GREEN!”  It also indirectly states that any girl or guy can do the green thing when it comes down to it, (especially when it’s so damn affordable).

A sneak peak at one of our cute ballet flats due out in April 2009.

It’s been awesome working with the Payless team to develop the brand. We’ll be updating the looks a few times every year and we’ve got some on-trend, fresh looks that will totally be on point for the coming season.

Keep an eye out for the Zoe & Zac launch this April 2009 and your eyes here for some of the latest developments–both on the style and sustainability front. We’re already looking ahead to the summer line and other environmental efforts, so stay tuned. Things are moving forward quickly!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 12:24 am. It is filed under fashion & style and tagged with cheap green fashion, eco-fashion, ecostyle, footwear trends, green fashion, green footwear, green shoes, Payless, Payless green line, shoes under $30, Summer Rayne Oakes, sustainable accessories, sustainable design, sustainable fashion, sustainable shoes, sustainable sneakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.