Step into the world of Marcus Butler, a name that has transformed from a renowned YouTuber to an influential fashion icon. Discover how this incredibly talented individual has taken the fashion industry by storm, gracing the catwalks of esteemed designers like Joshua Kane. Marcus’s journey goes beyond his impeccable sense of style – he is also deeply committed to challenging the pitfalls of fast fashion and creating a more sustainable future. In an exclusive interview with Lewis Lifestyle, Marcus delves into his transition away from YouTube, his successful modeling career, and his visionary venture, NU-IN, which serves as a catalyst for change. Join us as we explore Marcus’s multifaceted world, where fashion and sustainability converge. Gain insights into his motivations, design talents, and how he uses his influence to revolutionize the fashion industry. Prepare to be inspired by Marcus’s commitment to making a positive impact and shaping a more sustainable future for all.
If we’d have said the name ‘Marcus Butler’ a year ago, you’d have probably envisaged an incredibly talented and popular YouTuber. Yet now, his name conjures up images of an incredibly talented (no surprise there) fashion icon, who has been gracing the catwalks of designers such as Joshua Kane. He is extremely switched onto the downfalls of so-called ‘fast fashion’ and has been using his influence and designing talents to re-envisage this world in order to create a more sustainable future. Lewis Lifestyle quizzes Marcus on his step away from YouTube, his modelling career so far, and how he sees his new venture NU-IN as a catalyst for change.
You have been mentioned as one of “Britain’s most influential Tweeters” in the past and have an extensive social media following. How do you see the role of these platforms?
A lot of people like to hate on social media and I totally understand some of the reasons why, but at the same time we have these incredible platforms that allow people to connect and create content all over the world. It’s a free marketing tool for creatives to showcase their work.
One platform that you were particularly well known for is YouTube; what was your journey into this?
I learnt to edit when I was 14 by making compilation videos of my favourite basketball players and started to upload them to YouTube. I then created a new channel where I would rip BBC Live Lounge videos off their website and put them on YouTube so people around the world could watch them. This channel started to get a few million views and people were leaving comments on the videos for me to show my face and personality. I had seen a few people already doing it (vlogging) and thought ‘yeah why not’ so started my official channel when I was 17.
What motivated you to take a leap into this online world?
It was definitely a combination of things. But I thought it was so fascinating that I could create this piece of content in my bedroom, upload it on the internet and people from all over the world could watch it. I knew the online world was going to blow up.
What have been some of your highlights of having a YouTube channel? Who have you really enjoyed working with?
I think the fact I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world and meet some amazing people along the way. It gave me a platform and opportunity to discover my passions and has opened numerous doors for me to move forwards. I will always look back at the time it all started to snowball as some of my most fond memories. I was essentially travelling the world with some of my friends that I made. We were all the ‘weird people talking to ourselves in our bedrooms’ and none of us knew where this whole industry was going so we just tried to soak it all in.
And what have been some difficulties that you have come across?
Not understanding the reality of letting your audience into your daily life and feeling like you owe them an answer to everything.
You used to do daily uploads and obviously reduced this. Why did you make this decision?
I started to lose interest and realised that this might not have been what I wanted to be doing in 3,4,5 years. I felt like I outgrew my content and it didn’t feel real or natural to me anymore.
And then, what made you decide to take an extended break from YouTube?
I have changed a lot over the past few years and I found YouTube a really hard platform to transition with.
Do you think that you’ve been able to maintain the relationships with other YouTubers? What is it like being a part of such a community?
To be honest, no not really, I’m still friends with some but I don’t really get time to hang out with them anymore.
As we know, you are a dab hand in the modelling world as well. When did this start?
It naturally came from getting into fashion on Instagram.
You have walked on a variety of runways, when was the turning point for your career in modelling?
There hasn’t necessarily been a standout point, I just started to gain an interest in clothes and started experimenting with shoots on Instagram. It all happened from there really!
You recently walked at The Royal Exchange for Joshua Kane. How was that experience?
Fun! It was a very creative theme, so we all needed hair and makeup which stood out as well as the outfits.
What excites you the most about the world of fashion?
It’s constantly innovating. The creative process is non-stop. There’s always new inspiration which really keeps you on your toes!
How have you gone about building and maintaining relationships with others in this environment?
Through parties, events, Instagram etc you get to meet so many new people and I vibe with whoever’s got the same energy.
Where do you see your role in this sphere?
I quite like to experiment and try new things and I really think that’s noticeable in what I post, but I sense that I have a much bigger role to play in my current work project.
We are really excited to hear about your new venture NU-IN. Could you tell us more about your decision to start this?
It came sort of accidentally. My girlfriend and I were working on our own sustainable unisex brand when we got introduced, through a friend, to our CEO Mike who had started on this journey to create NU-IN. Stefanie and I ended up being the last piece of the puzzle to form the company along with an incredible team of co-founders. We realised there was a much bigger issue to try and solve, and an opportunity with this avenue that our own unisex brand didn’t directly address. Fashion is the second biggest polluter to our planet and the bigger brands are moving too slowly towards sustainability, so we wanted to create something pioneering.
NU-IN is a sustainable online fashion house with a mission to create affordable clothing with minimum impact on our planet. Not just in the materials used, but all the way through to the people making them, and the standard of their working conditions. We have nothing to hide.
What experiences have you had (both within and outside of fashion) that have motivated you to change the status quo!?
We’re getting to a point where it’s so obvious that we need to change many of our individual actions if we want to have a chance at saving our planet. I’m currently on this journey, I’ve been plant based for two months now (hopefully more) by the time this is out. I think it’s too easy to point fingers, and it’s really important that as long as we have the capacity to try, we will have a more positive impact on our future. I think it’s about being imperfectly perfect. It’s unrealistic that everyone is going to become sustainable in every aspect of their lives, but if everyone can change just a little, then we’re off to a great start.
What makes your clothing platform so exciting?
We’re here to disrupt and shake up the current fashion industry. We’re making sustainable clothing fashionable and affordable. There are loads of brilliant brands out there pushing sustainability but there still seems to be an expensive price point on these products.
There’s also a lot of greenwashing from the bigger fashion brands claiming that they are sustainable, but when you look across the whole process, they aren’t fulfilling this at every step. We hope that part of our mission will force these bigger brands to shift towards sustainability quicker than currently projected.
Could you give us any insights as to who you will be working with? What has made you reach out to these designers!?
Our focus is collaborating with interesting people within the fashion space who have a desire to create their own range of clothes. Steffi and I will launch the first official collection with NU-IN in April when we launch.
What is unique about your own private label?
Affordability across a wide range of sustainable clothes, combined with complete transparency to our customers.
You have gone from strength to strength in all things creative; could you tell us a little bit about Stripped Bear, your music venture?
Stripped Bear was created with an idea to disrupt the music industry and help artists break into this environment. We found Maisie Peters who has got such an exciting future ahead of her. She’s a truly wonderful person and immensely talented.
How did you come to work with Maisie Peters?
Through YouTube initially. That was where it all began.
With all of these exciting avenues in the works you must find yourself extremely busy! What do you do in those few moments when you can relax?
Yeah time management has always been something hard to juggle, but I like to spend any downtime somewhere in nature, surrounded by good people.
Considering everything you are working on, where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
Hopefully part of an extremely successful business that has helped move other brands towards sustainability quicker than they had originally planned.
Our final question has to be… What next!?
NU-IN and disrupting the fashion industry!
