A purpose-driven upcycling start-up on a mission to reduce garment waste had quickly captured attention in the sustainable fashion space. With a unique offering ranging from on-the-go mending supplies for self-upcycling to a digital store of ready-to-wear upcycled pieces, and a commercial workshop for custom orders, their growth within two years was both rapid and promising. Their AI-powered customization prototype, lean resource R&D, and active presence in industry trade shows validated strong product-market fit.

However, the pace of growth had outstripped the structural readiness of the business. Their challenges included incomplete business planning, unclear go-to-market strategy for scaling-up, limited financial foresight and sustainability modelling, gaps in regulatory and compliance readiness, no structured plan for scaling operations or expanding partnerships.