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# JON KORTAJARENA LAUNCHES SMTH ELSE: A NEW CHAPTER IN SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY
- URL: https://dailyreporteronline.com/jon-kortajarena-launches-smth-else-a-new-chapter-in-sustainable-beauty/
- Published: 2026-10-23T15:49:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T15:55:27.000Z
- Description: Supermodel and actor Jon Kortajarena steps into a new role as entrepreneur with SMTH ELSE—a sustainable, genderless haircare brand inspired by childhood years in his mother’s Bilbao salon. In this exclusive conversation, he shares how two decades in fashion shaped his vision for accessible luxury.
- Author: Giga Uchuvatov

![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_Campaign_2026_03.jpg)

From the high-octane runways of Paris and Milan to the intimate world of sustainable beauty, Jon Kortajarena has continually redefined what it means to be a modern icon. With a career spanning over two decades alongside fashion visionary Tom Ford and top global houses, Kortajarena now channels his artistic discipline into **SMTH ELSE**—a genderless, eco-conscious haircare brand rooted in childhood memories of his mother’s salon in Bilbao. In this candid interview, he reflects on identity beyond modeling, the craft of accessible luxury, and finding quiet harmony amidst a fast-paced life.

![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_Campaign_2026_06.jpg)

**First of all, please tell us about yourself: what you do, your full professional biography, and how your journey in this field began?**  
  
I’m Jon Kortajarena, a model, actor, and now an entrepreneur with my haircare brand, **SMTH ELSE**. I grew up in Bilbao,and none of this was planned. I went to a modeling agency with a friend who didn’t want to go alone, and they ended up offering me work too. What attracted me most was the possibility of traveling and discovering a world beyond the one I knew. I couldn’t have imagined how far it would take me.

More than twenty years later, I’ve worked with some of the most extraordinary people in fashion. Tom Ford has been particularly important in my journey, and he also gave me my first opportunity to act. I’m very proud of that career. But I’ve always understood that modeling is my profession; it isn’t my identity. I suspect that distinction has helped me stay at this level in an industry that moves so quickly and is always looking for someone new. I take the work seriously, but I don’t need it to tell me who I am.

It also leaves room for the life that fulfills me most: love, relationships, intimacy, the small things that make an ordinary day beautiful. I’m protective of that life because it’s precious to me. It belongs to me and the people I share it with. I don’t feel the need to make it available for everyone else’s opinion.

And I enjoy the playful side of fashion, too. I like the fantasy, the seduction, even the frivolity. Not everything has to be so serious. There’s freedom in being able to play with an image without having to live inside it.

Staying in this industry for so long has also meant allowing myself to evolve. **SMTH ELSE** is another step in that evolution, and one that feels very personal: my mother is a hairdresser, so this world was part of my life long before fashion. After so many years being the face of other people’s brands, there’s something deeply satisfying about building something from the foundations and having a say in what it stands for.  
  
![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_CS_Smoothing_HairOil_75ml_5000007080_Mood_02.jpg)

**What was the main idea, initial push, or specific problem in the industry you wanted to solve?**

I wanted to create what I consider a new kind of luxury: exceptional quality, products that deliver on their promises, and a beautiful sensory experience, with care for how everything is made. And at a price that makes it a realistic choice for more people.

Sustainability matters to me. I’m full of contradictions, and I’m still learning, but I want to keep making better choices and encourage other people to do the same. Whenever I spoke about this on social media, one response kept coming up:“I’d love to, but I can’t afford it.” That stayed with me.

With **SMTH ELSE**, we’ve worked to make that responsibility tangible. Our approach includes recycled and recyclable packaging, refill formats, and concentrated formulas designed to reduce the amount of packaging needed. We’ve explored the options available to us and pushed to make the most responsible choices we could, while protecting the quality of the products. I wouldn’t claim that everything is perfectly sustainable, but we’ve taken those decisions seriously from the beginning.

The ambition is to make more responsible haircare accessible to more people, without compromising on performance or the sophistication of the products and their packaging. Shopping more responsibly should be a choice available to everyone, rather than a privilege reserved for a few.  
  
![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_Campaign_2026_07.jpg)

**What inspired you to enter the haircare space, and what is the core philosophy and mission behind your new genderless, sustainable brand?**

Haircare was part of my life long before fashion. My mother is a hairdresser, and I practically grew up in her salon in Bilbao. What I remember most is the conversations. Women would talk about their relationships, their worries, the difficulties they were going through - things we might take to therapy today. Back then, so much of that happened in the hairdresser’s chair. And adults seemed to forget that children could hear everything. I was there, taking it all in, and I loved it. It was quite an education.

Very early on, I understood that my mother’s work went far beyond making someone look beautiful. She listened, she gave them attention, and sometimes they would leave seeming a little lighter, a little more themselves. As a child, I couldn’t have explained it that way, but I could see the difference.

Then I spent more than twenty years in fashion, experiencing how hair can transform an image or an attitude. **SMTH ELSE** brings those two worlds together: everything I’ve learned professionally and something very personal that began in my mother’s salon.

That’s also why I wanted the brand to feel welcoming. We create products around what hair needs - its texture, its condition, how you want it to feel - without deciding who should use them based on gender. Sustainability and accessibility are part of that same care: thinking about how we make things and who gets to enjoy them.

I suppose my mother gave me my first understanding of what beauty could do for someone. That feeling has stayed with me, and it’s something I want to carry into what I’m building.  
  
![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_CS_PureHydrate_Shampoo_250ml_5000012080_Mood_02.jpg)

**Bringing a fresh perspective into a traditionally female-led industry is very compelling - what unique insights do you hope to bring to the space?**

I think it’s time we moved beyond some of these labels. Hair has different textures, conditions, and needs; gender doesn’t tell you which product is right for you. I want people to feel free to choose what works for them.

My perspective comes from growing up in my mother’s salon and then spending more than twenty years working with extraordinary professionals in fashion. That has shaped both my expectations of a product and my understanding of how personal haircare can be.

I wanted to bring those experiences into a brand that feels welcoming and sophisticated, where people can recognise their own needs without being told that a product belongs to someone else because of their gender. For me, that freedom is an important part of what **SMTH ELSE** stands for.

**Which challenges stand out most vividly in your memory from your career and brand development, and what did you learn from them?**

The biggest challenge has been bringing all our ambitions together: premium performance, sophisticated design,sustainability, production in Spain, and a price that makes the products accessible to a wider audience. I wanted to build a brand whose values are reflected in actual decisions - in how we develop, produce, package, and price everything.

The easier route would have been to position the brand at a much higher price. Finding a way to protect the quality while keeping it accessible was the real challenge. Making the numbers work without losing what mattered to us has been one of the hardest parts, but also one of the most important.

The process has taught me that values become meaningful when you have to work to uphold them. It’s easy to talk about accessibility; the challenge is to build it into the business while maintaining the standards you believe in.  
  
![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_Campaign_2026_05.jpg)

**What keeps you motivated even when immediate results are not yet visible?**

I think you have to learn to enjoy the process, in business as much as in life. That’s where you grow, and it’s where you spend most of your time. The moment you see the final result is only a tiny part of everything that went into it. Of course,it’s satisfying when that result lives up to your expectations, but building this brand has been rewarding in itself.

Usually, I come into a brand when its world already exists. I bring my face, my personality, and my interpretation of its identity. With **SMTH ELSE**, I’ve shaped that world from the beginning. I chose the name, the colours, the typography,the fragrance, and the packaging, and defined who I wanted the brand to reach and the values I wanted it to stand for.

There was something very familiar about working in haircare, having grown up in my mother’s salon and then spent so many years alongside some of the world’s best hairstylists. But having the creative freedom - and the responsibility - to turn my own taste and priorities into something tangible was a new experience. I’ve found that deeply fulfilling.

That involvement has kept me motivated throughout. And now, looking at the finished products, I feel incredibly proud of what we’ve created.

**How do you balance work and personal life? What are some hobbies, interests, or facts about you that the public may not know?**

Life is busy, honestly. There isn’t much spare time, so a lot of it comes down to being organised and intentional about where I put my energy.

I’m in a very special chapter of my personal life, and I want to give it time, attention, and love. At the same time, my work keeps me curious and excited. I enjoy having new goals, being challenged, and creating things. Being able to choose where I direct that ambition is a real luxury.

**SMTH ELSE** was something I had wanted to do for a long time, and I feel very fortunate to have brought it to life while also enjoying such a meaningful moment personally.

For me, balance means building a life that feels right for you, with room for the people you love and the work that gives you purpose. The balance shifts, and I’m learning to make space for that. What matters is that the way I spend my time reflects what I actually value.  

**What advice would you give to those who are just starting out in their careers or launching a new business?**

I always find it difficult to give advice, because I don’t feel I’m in a position to tell anyone else how to live or build their career. I’m still figuring things out myself. I don’t have a magic formula for making things work, even in my own life.

But I do believe in bringing love to what you do, working hard, and being honest with yourself and with others. A little luck plays a part, too. I can’t promise that those things will guarantee success, but they’re the principles I try to follow.

**What do you do when you need inspiration, fresh vision, or energy?**

Nature always inspires me. Switching off and feeling completely held by it helps me recharge and makes space for new ideas.

But inspiration comes from so many places: travelling, someone you meet, another artist’s work, a great night out, an exhibition, a song. Friendship, love, beauty - all of those things inspire me.

I think it can come from almost anywhere. And then something inside you says, “There’s something here. I connect with this.” You can’t always explain why, but you learn to listen to that feeling. For me, that’s where the magic is.  
  
![](https://dailyreporteronline.com/content/images/2026/10/SMTHELSE_Campaign_2026_04.jpg)

**What does success mean to you - personally and professionally?**

For me, success means finding balance and feeling at peace with the life you have. There’s an idea in Seneca’s writing that resonates with me: wealth has as much to do with how little you need as with how much you have.

Having more doesn’t necessarily make you happier or more fulfilled. I think success is being able to appreciate what’s already there, feel grateful for it, and live with a sense of calm.

That doesn’t mean giving up ambition, curiosity, or the desire to grow. I still want to discover things, improve, and create.But I want those ambitions to coexist with an appreciation of my life as it is.

Personally and professionally, that’s what I’m working towards: a life where the feelings that guide me are calm,acceptance, and gratitude.

**Is there a motivational phrase or motto you often repeat to yourself?**

Lately, I’ve been trying to trust that what’s meant for me will find its way into my life, and that some things can’t be forced, however deeply I want them.

I still believe you have to work hard, fight for what matters to you, and put love and good intentions into what you do.Luck matters, but I want it to find me doing my part.

Having goals is important. They give you direction and something to work towards. But I also think you have to leave room for life to surprise you and stay open to possibilities you never expected. They might be just as wonderful as what you had in mind - or even more so.

That’s the balance I’m trying to find: giving my best while accepting that I can’t control everything, and allowing a little space for life’s magic.

**Looking ahead, what are your future plans regarding expanding your work or embarking on new projects?**

On the business side, my focus right now is **SMTH ELSE**. It’s a concept I believe in deeply, and after investing so much time in its development, seeing the finished products has made me even more confident in its potential. I’m fully committed to helping it grow.

I want the brand to earn people’s trust through the quality of its products and how well they work. I’ve created something that I want to be consistent with the values I try to live by and represent publicly. That coherence matters to me, and I want it to guide how the brand develops.

Alongside that, I’m continuing my work as a model and actor. I’m currently filming an American movie in Morocco, and there are other projects ahead. Modelling is also going very well, and I’m grateful to still be doing work that excites me.

There’s a lot happening, and I feel very fortunate. With **SMTH ELSE**, my ambition is to build something people choose,come back to, and trust.

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