We are absolutely delighted to welcome a new brand, ByContrast to the Care What You Wear site.
Jon, who runs ByContrast on his own, is an amazing designer and is committed to slow, meaningful fashion by selling his unisex, sustainable, ethically produced products one at a time, as and when they are purchased.
Please get to know Jon and his brand a little better by reading on, as he answers some questions from the CWYW team.
In your own words, how would you describe your brand?
 - ByContrast is designed to bring a different touch to streetwear. I call it trend'urban style. Obviously, whatever ByContrats would become, it had to be made with the people who cultivate and work the raw material in mind first, and then the model is designed to reduce plastic use, carbon emission and water use.
What inspired you to start BYC?
- I find fashion to be relatively black/white/grey. That's one aspect, I couldn't find clothes I like to wear. The second one is that the vast majority of clothes produced are being destroyed or brands devalued with heavy discounts because of a wrong forecast. It makes no sense in a world where e-commerce and on-demand production exist. ByContrast, as it's called, brings a different approach; it's not new, it's just not known enough or lacks the qualitative and/or sustainable element.
What does the future hold for BYC?
- First I want the brand to be seen and understood. Its mission in particular. There was a time, not far ago, when we would carefully buy clothes, and these were made in limited quantities. Since Fast Fashion is a thing, there is no care for the products, the designs, the planet, the people who make them, ... fashion has gone bland and soulless. ByContrast brings colours, and uniqueness and puts the people behind the brand first.
What do you perceive to be the biggest barriers to people buying more sustainably?
- Price. And not because the sustainably and ethically produced apparels are expensive - I find them to be priced correctly most of the time. The issue is that the fashion industry lets low prices, low quality and low margins products flow the market. Now consumer perception of a t-shirt would be a £3 H&M with a print that is produced by the 1,000s units; how could they justify buying a t-shirt that is 5 to 10x more expensive?
What, if anything, do you feel the sustainable clothing industry needs to change to overcome those barriers?
- Work collectively towards reaching consumers; and that's one of the things I like about CWYW. We are in the spiral of trying to establish our brands individually, by spending lots of money on Meta ads or Google placements. With my background as leading 12 Marketplaces in Europe (in the wine industry), one of my first ideas was to create a Marketplace for sustainable brands where we all are constantly promoted as a movement rather than individuals working alone. We all have the same mission, we should collaborate more. By all means, if anyone is reading this and wants to work on this project, let's get in touch and chat: jon@bycontrast.uk
Apart from yours, what are your favourite sustainable brands out there at the moment?
- I am a huge fan of Sutsu. Not only the products: the mission of course, the branding, the designs, ... They're a role model for me. Another one is VivoBarefoot; I own 7 pairs! The idea of re-Vivo is splendid and on point with my vision of things: don't throw;Â repair. It was the way when I was a kid, and I survived aha!
We want to thank Jon so much for taking the time to speak with us and answer all our questions, we are looking forward to working with him closely to help push his amazing products.
And as a CWYW visitor, Jon has given us a unique code to use on his site that gets you 15% off every time you shop there.
Simply visit https://www.bycontrast.uk/ and use code CWYW15 at checkout for this exclusive offer!
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