How emerging sustainable fashion brands are winning over consumers

Navigating the fashion landscape seems to have never been more challenging - especially for smaller, emerging, and upcoming designers. Characterized by ongoing economic uncertainty, the increasing use of digital tools like AI, a changing retail experience, and never-ending shifts in consumer behavior, there is one red string connecting it all: a renewed focus on more conscious, sustainable, and circular practices. However, just because a brand claims to be sustainable doesn’t guarantee its success. To truly connect with consumers and convert interest into sales, brands and designers need to look further than simple messages. Taking a deeper look at current sustainability messaging, we spoke with three Redress Award Design (RDA) alumni, namely Isabel Annaiss Yucra Mancilla from Activism, Eric Wong from Absurd Laboratory, and Pat Guzik, to better understand how they are leveraging their brand values, mission, and practices into actual sales and building viable businesses in an ever-demanding market.

The “say-do” gap: from theory to daily business reality

Recent studies into consumer psychology indicate there is a current “say-do” gap occurring amongst consumers globally when it comes to shopping for sustainable brands. 75 percent of consumers consider themselves conscious shoppers, yet they only shop according to these values 33 percent of the time, revealing a significant gap between intention and action.  While research explains this attitude-behavior gap through concepts like “default mode” purchasing and the “curse of convenience,” sustainable fashion designers experience it as something far more tangible: customers who love the story, but hesitate at checkout.

“When I participated in the Redress Design Award in 2016, there were only a few people in my country who knew what ‘sustainable fashion’ meant,” recalls Pat Guzik, whose eponymous women’s wear brand focuses on transparent, local production in Poland. “A few years later, the question about where my clothes come from became a fundamental part of people asking about my brand.” Now, close to a decade later, awareness and interest in sustainability have exploded, but so has skepticism. “Due to widespread greenwashing and companies overusing the term ‘sustainable,’ people have lost trust,” she points out. 

Eric Wong from Absurd Laboratory, a 2011 finalist for the RDA, who creates reimagined designs from vintage materials in Hong Kong, has followed the changes in sustainable fashion since 2011. “Early on, it was niche, mostly activists and early adopters,” says Wong to FashionUnited. Fast-forward to today, and over 60 percent of his customers are Gen Z, and unsurprisingly, they’re not just interested in his brand’s story - they are also demanding transparency and action. However, growing awareness regarding how and where clothing is made from consumers doesn’t automatically translate into purchases.

The challenge, as Annaiss Yucra Mancilla, the founder of Peruvian brand Artivisit, explains, is making sustainability feel like something that should be actively desired rather than a moral duty consumers need to uphold. “Instead of overwhelming [customers] with technical terms, we connect emotionally: showing how a piece preserves traditions, supports artisans, and innovates with materials.” In order to successfully overcome this challenge, as well as fears of greenwashing, lack of transparency, and more, Wong, Guzik, and Mancilla have all developed their own strategies that mirror the four key approaches identified in the webinar ‘Does Sustainability Actually Sell.’ As smaller brands, they’ve also had to implement these strategies with limited resources, resilient authenticity, and resourceful innovation. 

Moving from “we” to “me” messaging and making it personal

Guzik discovered that her most effective strategy wasn’t really a strategy at all, but just a decision in her commitment to working in the most transparent manner possible. “I think that educating and informing customers about how the production process looks and who is behind it is very effective. I believe that customers feel a special bond when they know that their bag was sewn by retired Mrs. Lucyna, and the dress by Mrs. Magda from a small tailoring shop in Kraków,” she explains. Rather than just writing a blanket statement about her designs, this level of connection and personalization shifts the conversation from abstract workers in a faceless factory to real human beings, creating genuine connection.

Mancilla also interweaves storytelling into her designs, referring to her pieces as more than just clothing, describing them as “cultural artifacts” that reflect hours of artisan work and stories that can’t be replicated. “Each piece carries a narrative that the customer continues when they wear it,” says Mancilla. “A story that can’t be replicated by mass production.” By making slow production more tangible through personal and cultural identity, rather than focusing on the potential environmental benefits of the item, consumers are able to identify the value in the design’s longevity, uniqueness, and ethical production. 

Storytelling remains a key part of bridging the gap between consumer interest and action for these designers, and something that goes much deeper than just creating a fluffy marketing campaign. “Storytelling plays one of the most important roles in my brand strategy,” says Guzik, who develops her collections as “a labyrinth of symbols” through prints and embroidery. “I share the stories behind each product, who made them, and the journey from concept to creation.” Wong has his own way of conveying the story behind his designs, using “heritage tags” to detail each piece’s origin and the remaking process, and share quantifiable environmental impact, such as the amount of water saved and waste diverted. “We also use social media to share artisans’ stories and engage customers with interactive content, like virtual studio tours, making the abstract concept of sustainability concrete and relatable,” he says.

Transparency and education without overwhelming consumers

All three designers emphasize the importance of transparency when sharing their brand story, but with a crucial aspect: educating without overwhelming. By educating consumers in a low-threshold, accessible manner, using clear language, these designers are able to cut through the noise of greenwashing and make lasting relationships. Wong, for example, runs workshops where customers learn to upcycle their own clothes, creating hands-on connections to sustainable practices. “We start with education through a vintage store in HK called ‘Midwest Vintage,’” he explains. “We used their vintage stocks to create remade designs and explain the environmental toll of fast fashion.”

Guzik educates her consumers through detailed labels, tags, and in-depth information readily available on her website, “making the sustainability aspects clear and accessible.” She is keenly aware that product clarity when consumers ask where her designs come from doesn’t mean complexity, but rather means answering the fundamental question: “Where do my clothes come from?” Mancilla’s approach to sharing her production processes is to demonstrate rather than lecture: “We show the process, from artisan hands to bio-materials. Few brands combine ancestral techniques like the backstrap loom with innovative biomaterials,” she says. “Our storytelling comes from lived experience - migration, identity, cultural dialogue - making each collection a personal and political narrative, not just sustainable clothing.” Her three-part strategy, transparency, cultural resonance, and limited availability, helps turn consumer interest into intended purchases by creating both emotional connection and urgency.

Community connections over corporate interest

Working with minimal marketing budgets, Wong, Guzik, and Mancilla also leverage peer influence and community building to help strengthen their brand presence and accountability. Wong’s user-generated content campaigns, where customers share styled pieces on social media, create social proof and FOMO without the cost of corporate advertising spend. “We foster a hands-on connection to sustainability” through workshops and collaborative content, he notes. 

For Guzik, community is both a strategy and a source of strength. “Building a community that shares these values fosters loyalty and motivates consumers to make conscious purchasing decisions,” she says. The RDA alumni network itself also serves this purpose: “We can help each other, exchange experiences, share similar struggles in business, and support one another,” she adds. “Being part of this network reinforces that we’re not isolated; we’re part of a global movement redefining fashion’s purpose,” points out Mancilla, who notes that being a part of the 330-plus designer network across 50 countries has expanded her perspectives on sustainability beyond fashion. 

Overcoming the price point challenge

Outside of these four strategies, Wong, Guzik, and Mancilla face another major obstacle in converting consumer interest into sales, namely price. Wong’s remade designs are priced 200-300 percent higher than comparable fast-fashion items, while Guzik works with local producers and doesn’t offer seasonal discounts. Mancilla’s garments require hours of artisan labour and incorporate innovative bio-based materials, leading to elevated prices. So how do they justify these prices?

“We emphasize that every piece is not just clothing but a cultural artifact,” says Mancilla. “The value [in the garment] lies in longevity, uniqueness, and ethical creation—it’s not a trend, it’s an investment.” Wong breaks down the math for customers: “One remade jacket outlasts five fast fashion ones, reducing replacement costs.” He frames it as “Buy once, wear forever,” a testament that is backed by customer testimonials showing cost-per-wear savings. His designs also hold or appreciate in secondhand markets, adding resale value to the equation. Guzik further emphasizes the quality and durability of her designs, created “so they stay with the customer for years,” and has built no-discount pricing into her brand philosophy. “The price of my products doesn’t change at the end of the season. I believe that clothes are seasonless and that their value is the result of the work of the people creating them, which shouldn’t fluctuate.”

Another way these designers manage their pricing is through offering a lower entry point and making their designs more accessible. Wong, for example, offers entry-level products that cost less, such as accessories, and also offers limited-edition drops to lower the barrier of accessibility to his brand. “Limited-time offers, like bundle deals with educational content, help nudge fence-sitters into buyers by combining value with immediacy,” he adds. Guzik offers a one-size-fits-all approach to her collections, encouraging customers to buy her designs because they can share them with a partner or family. A creative solution, it addresses both sustainability (fewer items needed) and accessibility (one piece serves multiple people) in one.

Accepting the sustainable niche while overcoming challenges

In addition to securing a fair price for their brand, all three designers have made peace with the fact that they are not, nor will they ever be, competing directly with fast fashion brands. “We’re not trying to compete with Zara, we’re creating an alternative for people who want one,” says Guzik. Building fashion brands that offer depth over mass production breadth, they may retain a much smaller market share, but are able to develop stronger, deeper, and likely more loyal customer relationships. Yet they see opportunity in luxury’s current scrutiny. “Consumers are increasingly questioning ‘what’s behind the price,’” says Mancilla. “This creates an opportunity for brands like ours, which combine luxury standards with authentic sustainability and heritage. We offer what traditional luxury often lacks: meaning, roots, and transparency.”

Despite the designers’ out-of-the-box solutions, the three face real structural challenges. For Guzik, who self-finances without external investors, one of her biggest issues is managing cash flow while growing. “The main issue in scaling my business is financial—managing cash flow and ensuring liquidity is the biggest challenge,” she admits. Wong struggles with sourcing consistent, high-quality vintage materials at scale. “The vintage market is fragmented, and as demand grows, competition for premium fabrics intensifies, driving up costs,” he explains. Balancing growth without compromising the zero-waste ethos requires constant innovation. 

Mancilla identifies her main challenge as “balancing authentic craftsmanship with scalability. Every piece involves artisan techniques and innovation, which makes scaling delicate. The challenge is growing without diluting the essence of sustainability and cultural identity.” Yet, despite these challenges, all three remain committed and cautiously optimistic about building their sustainable brands. Being part of the RDA alumni network helps reinforce the notion that they’re not alone in making a difference. “Being in this community reassures me that the path I’ve chosen, though perhaps longer and more difficult, is worthwhile,” says Guzik. “I believe it makes sense, and I am confident that we can make a significant difference.” Mancilla echoes this sentiment: “Being part of this network reinforces that we’re not isolated; we’re part of a global movement redefining fashion’s purpose.”

It’s clear that for emerging sustainable designers, success lies not in perfecting marketing tactics, but in open, honest communication and shared values. Wong, Guzik, and Mancilla demonstrate that bridging the ‘say-do’ gap requires creativity, patience, and unwavering commitment to authenticity. Their approaches, from personal storytelling to accessible education, community building, and honest pricing, can serve as a blueprint for other emerging brands looking to move away from more conventional business models. In a market saturated with sustainability jargon, these designers prove that real impact comes from showing, not just telling.