Johnny - The World!
Posted: Jan 10 2019
We sat down with Johnny Ward, the extremely well travelled and incredibly successful blogger from onestep4ward.com. He is one of the few people to have been to every country in the world, all 197 of them. He recently made two beautiful suits with us to be used for his upcoming speech at the EU and a conference in Turkey.
Tell us a little about what you do.
I'm basically a glorified traveler! I left Ireland 10 years ago with little more than a dream of seeing the world, since then I set a goal to visit every country in the world and become the first person from Ireland to do so.
Along the way I set up my blog, onestep4ward.com, which people started following quite actively.
I then set up the media arm of my blog, step4wardmedia.com, which handled the business side of websites etc, and allowed me to run my company and my staff from my laptop as I traveled to all 197 countries, through this then, and perhaps fortunate timing with internet marketing, I ended up becoming time-free and financially-free, which has been a real rollercoaster!
I finished my countries earlier this year (2017), and have since set up my charity foundation, the GiveBackGiveAway.com, where we build schools, dormitories and playgrounds for struggling, rural communities around the world. So I've been focusing on that a lot recently, as well as still blogging away and traveling of course!
Did you enjoy your experience at Tailor On Ten?
It's been amazing. From my past 10 years, I hadn't had much call to be wearing a quality suit, but since finishing my goal, I've been doing a lot of public speaking, book contracts, media stuff etc so I was really in need of something of quality. After asking around friends in Bangkok, I discovered pretty quickly that Tailor on Ten were the best in the biz. So I signed up! The process has been amazing, so thorough, professional but also laid back and fun, i've really enjoyed it.
What’s your favourite country and which do you think has the best dressed people? Feel free to name a couple.
My fave country is a tough one, for landscapes probably Iceland or New Zealand, for people Algeria or Sri Lanka. For food, Mexico or Thailand. Best dressed are the Italians and Swedish I'd say. Going for a coffee is like stepping out in London Fashion Week! I wish I had your suits when I was traveling through those places!
Do you still have the wanderlust or has it subsided? You have satisfied it more than most people. What’s left for you travel wise?
I'm getting older, so for sure the times of 15 months straight on the road, one night here, two nights there, for so long are probably behind me. But travelling is a huge part of my life, so next year I'll probably be travelling around 6 months of the year, to twenty or so countries.
I'm always goal-orientated, so next year the big thing for me is to compete in, and complete, the marathon at the North Pole! Then South Pole the year after, then Everest. One day. Every country, the North Pole, South Pole and Everest. I'd hang up my backpack after that!
When traveling what item of clothing can you not do without?
A pair of slim-fit jeans. I can wear them with flip flops and a v-neck when I'm exploring Bucharest, or Lisbon etc, but also through on a pair of shoes and a white shirt and hit the amazing clubs in any city from Tokyo to New York.
Who are your personal style icons?
I have a massive man crush on David Beckham! Absolute legend! Also Conor McGregor's suits before he became too brash over the last eighteen months!
We love living in Bangkok, it has so much going for it. What are a few of your favourite things about this fascinating city?
The reason I love being based in Bangkok is the mix of the East and the West. I'm based in Thailand because I love South East Asia, I love the chaos, the lack of order, the madness of it all. But equally with Bangkok I have access to all my home comforts, nice bars, restaurants, malls. it's the best of both worlds in my opinion.
In your opinion what is the one thing every successful guy needs in their wardrobe?
A genuine, quality watch, a genuine, quality pair of under-stated sunglasses and a slim-fit modern suit. You can't go too wrong with that.
Finally, what’s next for you?
More travels! I'm running 4 charity projects in 2018 in India, Philippines, Nicaragua and Tanzania. Then as I mentioned, the North Pole Marathon.
I'll be releasing an online course teaching people how I did what I did in terms of traveling, becoming a self-made guy online, working from my laptop, so that'll take up most of my year.
I have the EU conference in Europe in the Summer so I'll probably spend my summer dotting around Europe, waiting for Oktoberfest in Germany, then it'll be time to start planning for 2019. Life's too short to not live how you wanna live!
Johnny is wearing a wool and mohair suit topped off with some of our custom made brown horn buttons. He also wrote a review of his experience with us here