Bill Cann is a Geography student at the University of Birmingham and he has recently created an exciting new start-up called OceanBound which aims to tackle plastic pollution in the fashion industry. His business idea was entered in the Ingenuity Challenge 2021 and he made his way through the competition heats all the way to the grand final.
Bill: OceanBound is a fashion
brand focusing on producing clothing within a circular economy. We are anti
fast-fashion and want to raise awareness at how the clothing you wear
contributes to the world’s second biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, the
fashion industry.
We are starting by creating sliders made from reclaimed ocean
and landfill plastics, which can last for years, and once they have reached the
end of their product lifespan, you can return the damaged goods so the
materials can be reused into new items, meaning that we are not adding even
more plastic waste into the already damaged ecosystems. OceanBound is then
moving towards making beachwear completely circular, so everyone can feel cool
and confident in what they are wearing, knowing that the clothes on their backs
are in fact helping to take pollutants out of natural habitats, most
importantly though is that everyone will be looking their best on their first
beach holiday back after COVID!
How did you come up with the idea?
It all started because I
needed a new pair of sliders and couldn’t find any I liked, so thought to make
them myself and here I am 7 months later creating a whole brand!
Without the B-Enterprising
team I doubt I would even have a business. They helped me right from day 1 on
how to go about this journey I am on. They pointed me in the directions I
needed to go, that I had no idea I had to go down on my own. The team put me in
contact with businesses and university research teams that have shaped what
OceanBound is today . They have been truly invaluable and I am excited to
continue to work with them in the future.
What are the best and worst aspects of running a business?
The best aspect is having
the freedom to do whatever you want. I love being able to design everything
myself (but I can’t wait to have some designers to help!) and every decision
you make is done with complete trust in yourself. It is honestly a great way to
truly understand who you are and what you want out of the business, especially
if you didn’t really know what you wanted to do post university, just like how
I felt.
The worst aspect is knowing
that the work is never done. I find myself working until midnight sometimes
(but I do quite like this in all honesty). There is always the fun bits of work
to do, like design and meeting with like-minded people who you can bounce ideas
off, but there’s also the admin that needs to be done. I’d love to get to a
point where I can hire someone to do the admin, but at this point its all up to
me.
Name one thing that you wish you knew before you started out?
The time it takes to
launch. I thought I would have the business up and running by summer 2021, but
it’s looking more likely to be summer 2022. The easiest part is having the
idea, but the work really starts when you want to make this idea a reality. Its
tough but I wouldn’t have it any other way
Just how much opportunity
there is out there for you if you want to start the journey of creating a business.
The best piece of advice I can give is just have a conversation with the
B-Enterprising team and they will point you in the right direction. I have been
lucky enough to receive grants that really pushed me through the R&D side
of OceanBound, but I would have had no idea they existed without one of the
B-Enterprising team making the initial introductions for me. My biggest
takeaway from it is that when you start looking for the opportunities, they
will soon start coming.
There is no such thing as a
stupid idea! All I wanted was a new pair of sliders and now I am at the
position where I have created my own job for once I graduate. It does get
difficult at times but thats all part of the process, there’s a lot more highs
than lows, and I definitely would have regretted not jumping at the opportunity
that has come from this.
