My Journey From Fashion Designer to Brand Story Architect
Why Ethical Fashion Needs More Than Just Beautiful Clothes
It was the moment everything shifted for me. I had just been let go—for the second time—this time from a brand I genuinely admired, which will remain unnamed. The values aligned, and the work felt meaningful. But like many ethical fashion brands, the financial viability wasn't there. Add in a lack of strategic marketing and business development to stand out in an ultra-niche market, and the cracks were inevitable.
At the time, that role felt like my last hope of working in ethical fashion. I was learning the hard truth: building a sustainable luxury fashion line with longevity felt like swimming against the current. I was burnt out and slowly letting go of the idealized career path I'd clung to—climb the ladder, gain credibility, and launch something of my own.
Instead, I watched that plan unravel. I was disillusioned with the fashion industry and unsure of my place in it. What followed was a necessary unraveling—therapy, reflection, and a spiritual reckoning that would eventually guide me back to the industry on my own terms.
Falling in Love With Fashion and Its Potential for Change
It hadn't always been this way.
I fell in love with visual art early on, before pivoting to fashion design as a pre-teen. Fashion, for me, felt more alive—embedded in culture, connected to identity. It was empowerment.
At Parsons, my creative world expanded. I explored my own design aesthetic and studied the works of Comme des Garçons and McQueen. But more than that, my social justice worldview began to take shape. Our Global Issues in Design course and the documentary The True Cost forever changed me. I learned about the harmful impact of dyes in the Global South, fashion's ties to human trafficking, and the deep inequities linked to so much beauty.
We weren't just being trained to create—we were challenged to be changemakers.
A pivotal moment occurred during my internship at Maiyet, a luxury brand that partners with artisans in developing regions and invests in women's economic advancement. Later, I worked at Lemlem, supporting women weavers and makers in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco. These experiences showed me fashion could be a bridge between aesthetics and empowerment. It felt promising and deeply fulfilling.
A Disillusioned Dream: Watching Brands I Admired Close Their Doors
After graduation, I contacted a friend at Maiyet about job openings. To my surprise, she told me they were downsizing and couldn't bring her back from maternity leave. By 2021, the brand quietly folded.
Maiyet and two other pioneering ethical fashion brands I admired—EDUN and SUNO—led the way with models that prioritized partnerships with women artisans in the Global South, produced artisan textiles, and sourced eco-conscious materials, all while designing with edge and intention. Yet, despite their innovation, they weren't operationally or financially sustainable. I grieved as I watched each of them quietly shut down within just a few years of each other.
The reality was harsh: their visionary approaches clashed with an industry still driven by speed, mass production, and trend-based consumption.
These brands didn't just struggle operationally or with tight margins—they struggled to stand out in a saturated market where ethical brands were already the underdogs. Even today, in an unstable economy where greenwashing is rampant and consumer trust is fragile, sustainable fashion is a challenging sell. Ten years ago, it was even harder when these innovators were leading the ethical luxury movement.
After being let go from my final ethical fashion role—where we upcycled clients' garments and produced made-to-order—my belief that ethical practices could coexist with business longevity was deeply shaken.
My Career Pivot To Mission-Driven Storytelling
Thankfully, the next chapter had already quietly begun.
Months before I was let go, I took on a part-time role with a fashion startup coach, helping with SEO and content writing. She liked my work enough to bring me on to write for her designer clients—one of whom donated proceeds to anti-trafficking nonprofits. It was my first deep dive into the issue, and I felt that same spark I'd felt at Parsons after watching The True Cost—a deep pull toward human rights work.
About a year later, I joined Nomi Network, a nonprofit that equips women and girl survivors of trafficking in India, Cambodia, and the U.S. to lead their communications and marketing efforts. Their mission focused on providing entrepreneurial skills and safe employment opportunities to break generational cycles of economic vulnerability. Many of the opportunities are directly tied to the ethical fashion supply chain. I began to notice how my passions were starting to converge in a way I hadn't expected.
What The Nonprofit World Taught Me About the Power of Words
At Nomi Network, I witnessed firsthand how stories drive a mission forward. Fundraising and social impact work run on emotionally compelling stories of transformation that spark connection and garner long-term support from their supporters.
A core part of my role was writing monthly impact stories from the women we served. I also learned the principles of ethical storytelling—the nonprofit world's equivalent to avoiding greenwashing. I learned to center the women's voices, avoid "savior" framing, and write with consent, accuracy, and care.
These values aligned deeply with my own and shaped the kind of writer I became.
It was rewarding to see my words help raise hundreds of thousands of dollars—and to hear directly from donors how the stories moved them. But, I wondered why more ethical fashion brands didn't use storytelling this way.
Why Written and Verbal Storytelling Should Be Core to Your Brand Strategy
Fashion has always been a powerful form of visual storytelling, but the power of words often gets overlooked. For heritage brands with built-in reputations and resources, aesthetics can be enough. But for emerging ethical brands where impact is just as central to brand identity as design—compelling written and verbal storytelling is just as essential.
Think about it: the connection between a nonprofit like Charity: Water and legacy fashion houses like Prada or Dior is their ability to tell a cohesive, memorable story. A few ethical brands, like Stella McCartney and Eileen Fisher, have used storytelling to create longevity, but this distinct brand messaging took years of intention and evolution.
For today's ethical brands, this is non-negotiable. You need more than a great product and mission. You need a strong brand identity, strategic messaging, and storytelling that makes people care.
What Luxury Ethical Fashion Can Learn from Nonprofits
Both nonprofits and ethical fashion are selling a vision of a better world. And that vision—however aspirational—has to feel real. Storytelling is what makes the ideal tangible. It's the bridge between your values and your customers.
Luxury fashion often says, "The art is enough," even when that beauty comes at a cost. Ethical fashion dares to say, "We can do both—create beauty and do no harm." That message is worth amplifying with the same creativity and strategy as the garment design.
The truth is, many ethical fashion brands don't fail because the product isn't good—they fail because their story doesn't manage to cut through the noise and truly connect with the right people.
Helping Ethical Fashion Brands Build a Distinctive Brand Voice
I started The Ethical Fashion Storyteller to help brands like yours close that gap. I kept seeing brilliant, mission-led founders struggling to connect—not because they lacked vision, but because their story wasn't told in a way that built traction.
I'm not saying that storytelling and marketing can solve every challenge. The operational, supply chain and profit margin hurdles facing ethical fashion brands are very real. And one brand's story alone won't dismantle a culture of overconsumption. But collectively? Stories can start to shift the narrative. They can move people, spark new ways of thinking, and build momentum for real change.
In a space where your mission is your greatest edge, storytelling isn't just important. It's essential.
That's where I come in. As a brand story architect, I help emerging ethical fashion brands craft the messaging, copy, and content that reflect their mission with depth and soul. So your audience doesn't just understand your brand—they feel it. So you won't just start an ethical fashion brand; you can sustain one.
Let's Bring Your Brand Story to Life
If you’re an emerging fashion brand trying to connect with your audience and stand out in the market in 2025, book a free discovery call with me.
I help ethical fashion brands bring their story to life through:
Brand storytelling and messaging that reflects your unique voice
Content marketing strategy
Content and copywriting for website, blog, email, print, social media, product descriptions and more
SEO content marketing
For deeper support, my Signature Brand Story Blueprint helps you define and refine your brand voice so you can share your story across all marketing and PR channels with consistency. You’ll walk away with a brand voice guide, a clear brand story, and ready-to-use messaging.