As I think about JON BLANCO's growth and evolution as a brand, it is hard not to be proud. 

When I started to work on this idea called JON BLANCO back in 2017 and 2018, I literally had no idea what I was doing. I was a recent college grad with no background in fashion. I barely knew about fashion. I mean, I was barely fashionable. But this all changed. Through the pursuit of something bigger than myself, I was able to grow. I made plenty of mistakes, sure, but I always learned from them. 

JON BLANCO started as a t-shirt line. I was putting my designs on good quality shirts with the goal of building a customer base that way. However, we weren't growing. This didn't work. I learned from my mistake. Slowly, over the last few years, we evolved from being a company that makes a ratio of 90:10 shirts to hats to 10:90 shirts to hats. I was reluctant at first and continue to be reluctant to this change because I always envisioned a brand that would dress you from top to bottom. Nonetheless, the focus on hats makes sense for us.

Through my hands-on education in this fashion world, I have certainly learned that there is a need for high quality, sustainable headwear. Headwear that is timeless. Headwear that can be worn by the young and by the young at heart. Headwear that is meant to last and be passed down if taken care of. Ultimately, we think too little about what we put on our heads. We opt for what is easy, what is cheap, what gets the job "done." But at the end of the day, we know that just "getting the job done" isn't enough. You deserve better and so does our planet.

JON BLANCO can, and will, fill that void. 

As I look forward to this year, I am excited to see our growth. I am particularly interested in how we partner with others.

We continue to invest a lot of money into improving our headwear and making it accessible for cobranding and collaborative opportunities. Whereas before we would require a collaboration minimum of 48 hats, we will now be able to collaborate and cobrand hats in batches as small as 12 hats. We are making organic headwear responsibly with new partners overseas and doubling down on our partnerships right here in the USA, increasing the amount of hats we make with our manufacturing partner in Cleveland, Ohio. We will continue to make hats in right here in Missouri as well.

What we are doing is unheard of in our industry.

We firmly believe in our mission and vision.

We thank you for believing in it as well.

I plan on periodically sending updates like this to keep everyone up-to-date with what we are focused on. I think 2024 will be an exciting year.

Stay inspired,

Anthony