The IKKIVI Podcast: Exploring Fashion, Culture and Values · Nivi Murthy

S3E12: Is the Path to Success Different for Sustainable Brands? | Mahima Gujral

·48 min·3 clips

Mahima Gujral says greenwashing makes her “really angry,” then explains why sustainable fashion takes much more work.

Sustainability is rising, but the nerves do not go away. Mahima talks about a market that can grow and still leave small brands carrying higher costs and harder calls. None of it sounds glamorous. Building a sustainable label, in her telling, means calling suppliers, visiting vendors, making trips, and accepting that the pace will be slower than you want. The workshop sits at the center of it. Having their own workshop meant training tailors, listening to feedback, and paying for costs that faster brands might skip. Her confidence came the long way. She remembers starting at 27 with belief, hope, and the very young assumption that people would understand the product right away. The market had other plans. Looking back, she can see how more research, product testing, and customer listening might have softened those early years. Awareness is still a live problem. She worries about whether the brand is reaching enough people, and whether the outreach is landing in the right places. Money keeps knocking. Without funding or an angel investor, the financial question shows up each morning as part of survival. The host recognizes the shape of that pressure from curating across multiple vendors, and the conversation gets warmer there. Mahima also wonders whether more time in a corporate setting, beyond Dior, would have helped before she began. She does not sour on the work. Her advice is plain and earned: research more, test earlier, respect the market, and expect the hustle to keep going.

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