ODYSAY is a luxury womenswear brand founded in 2015 by Sona Sidalova Barras. Our philosophy is about connecting beauty back to the everyday with non-seasonal pieces that remain impeccable over the years. We believe that a modern closet is one that caters perfectly to your lifestyle and one that will last a lifetime. We believe in transparency, ethical and sustainable production processes and, above all, exceptional quality. Our clothes are made in small quantities in Europe from great materials, to offer you the pinnacle of sustainable luxury. We have full control of how and where our collections are produced to provide you with beautiful garments inside and out. Each piece combines elegance and audacity - the outcome of a harmonious dance between a clean aesthetic and highly feminine accents. 

Our Mission 

Our philosophy is about stripping away the unnecessary to leave only the essence of quality. Our prices reflect our values and effort to limit our environmental footprint. They also reflect the choices that we made to ensure that our clothes are made out of the highest quality fabrics. We have full control of how and where our collections are produced to provide you with beautiful garments inside and out. Our clothes are made in small quantities in Europe from great materials, to offer you the pinnacle of sustainable luxury.

Our Origin 

Soňa Sidalova Barras started her career in investment banking prior to launching ODYSAY. Having grown in a family of entrepreneurs, she always knew she wanted to embark on her own entrepreneurial journey. Ultimately, it was her frustrating search for a civil wedding dress that stimulated the birth of ODYSAY. In 2011, she scoured in vain through Paris and London for a simple and elegant dress for her civil wedding: one that reflected her style, did not cost the usual exorbitant prices and that she would be able to wear again in the future. This triggered Sona to take the leap in 2015 and create her own fashion brand that would cater to the need of the modern woman for occasion wear. ODYSAY was born and ready to embark on a journey centered around designs of undisputable quality.

Our Design

The ODYSAY design is all about finding a dress that is not merely an item of clothing but rather a keepsake for exceptional memories. A dress that will accompany you from the mundane to the extraordinary occasions while remaining timeless. ODYSAY has always shied away from fleeting trends and will repeatedly favour intemporal style. Our pieces are meant to last, to be worn over and again.

The ODYSAY silhouette has a distinct look. Our dresses have clean and minimalistic lines and are deliberately uncluttered. Distinctive contrasting embellishments add a touch of surprise in order to create classic garments with a twist. The result is a versatile, sophisticated and sensual design of timeless elegance. We at ODYSAY believe that you do not need a special occasion to wear beautiful and quality clothes.

At ODYSAY we believe in the quality and comfort of natural materials as they allow our bodies to breath and are therefore incredibly comfortable to wear. All our pieces are therefore made from the finest European silks, wools and cottons and are then carefully manufactured in a small atelier in Slovakia run by women. Our commitment to design, fit, and construction ensures that our garments are of exceptional comfort and quality. Attention to detail is what defines luxury and we make sure that nothing is left to uncertainty when it comes to our pieces.

How exactly are we sustainable?

Sustainability means different things to different people but here at ODYSAY we focus on limiting our environmental impact in an ethical fashion. We either make to order or create pieces in limited quantities, as we want to ensure that we only make as much as we sell. Since ODYSAY’s birth, we have tried to limit sales and our goal is to eventually cease doing them altogether as they contribute to unhealthy consumerist patterns of production. We do not destroy, burn or send our clothes to landfills. Instead, we use our creativity, innovation and time to make conscious choices about our waste. It is easier and less costly to simply dispose of the fabric excess made during the cutting process rather than give it new life, but we choose to upcycle our scraps into new accessories such as scrunchies or masks.

Furthermore, we transform old pieces into new silhouettes to give them a new life instead of throwing them away. We at ODYSAY only work with natural materials, which is less impactful on our environment for two reasons. Firstly, unlike with synthetic fabrics, washing natural fabrics does not release non-degradable microplastic fibers in sewage, which eventually end up in our oceans. Secondly, if these materials end up in landfills, they will naturally decompose. All in all, since the majority of our fabrics are made in Italy, and our pieces are created in Slovakia, our collections do not travel extensively during their production process, which further limits our environmental impact. At ODYSAY we believe that luxury should not only be felt in the finished product but in every step of the process.

Our Ethics

We believe in a slow approach to fashion: buying less and better-quality clothes that have been created in alignment with our ethical values. Clothes that were made while providing opportunities rather than imprisoning the people making it. Our dresses are about emancipation and liberation and could not pretend to do so if our production process did not reflect that. In order to be in control of our production process we do not outsource a single step. We choose to work with an independent atelier run by women to ensure that all employees work in a healthy and safe environment and are not merely paid above the minimum wage but rather above the living wage. We do not wish for the people we work with to merely survive; we want them to truly thrive. We know every person that creates our garments and are very proud to work with such skilled individuals. As a modern fashion brand, we always want to be a step ahead to ensure we become the best and most sustainable version of ourselves. We made the recent decision to no longer use real leather to create our garments as such materials are not in line with our ethical values. Our Ada dress is therefore the first and last leather product that we will make and will be discontinued once the limited stock has been sold.