Ayesha Mustafa
Founder of sustainable fashion brand, Everyday Phenomenal
Building an eco-conscious fashion brand that empowers everyone
Ayesha Mustafa is the founder of sustainable fashion brand, Everyday Phenomenal. Childhood memories of creating clothing from repurposed materials from her grandparent’s trunk, alongside an internship at Grameen Bank opened her eyes to the world of sustainable fashion.
After a career in marketing in the soft drinks sector, she launched a socially responsible retail brand, Fashion Compassion, stocking ethical brands and delivered talks and workshops to aspiring founders and young people at key climate change conferences and events. She was later named in the BBC 100 Women of 2014.
Soon she went on to establish Everyday Phenomenal using eco-friendly fabrics and responsible supply chain practices while working with local British businesses.
The start of a sustainable fashion mission
From a young age, I was interested in how fashion was made and the impact it had. I’ve lived in many different countries and seen artisans create beautiful clothing, yet their stories were rarely told.
When I look back at my earliest memories of sustainability in fashion, I think of my grandmother. My grandfather travelled a lot, so she kept a big trunk of materials sourced from all over the world. Whenever I asked for a dress for my birthday or a special occasion, she would say, “Let’s not buy it, let’s create it.”
We would take fabric from the trunk or old saris of hers and go to a tailor to design something together. Every time I wore those pieces, people asked me where I got them from. They were always a mix of old and new fabrics, her ideas and mine.
Years later when I was 16 and living in New York, I interned at the Grameen Bank, the first bank to give microfinance (small loans) to the poorest women in Bangladesh. One of its initiatives, Grameen Check, revived the handloom industry by combining fashion with business acumen: giving women supervision and coaching to turn their skills into a scalable livelihood.
Those early experiences shaped my understanding of what sustainable fashion is about: quality, self-expression and valuing the makers.
Through Everyday Phenomenal, my sustainable fashion brand, I wanted to combine the professional skills I developed in my career alongside what I saw growing up to build a business that values both the maker and consumer.
Building a sustainable fashion brand
With my fashion brand Everyday Phenomenal I use local factories that are transparent and easy to visit. I’ve started sourcing from Portugal in small amounts but usually use UK factories with strong sustainability credentials.
I look closely at materials that must be organic or certified in some way. I use a factory that produces small-batch materials, under 50 metres, so nothing is overproduced. We make around 70–80 pieces of each style and restock only when needed.
All our packaging is biodegradable and recyclable, and we avoid excess packaging. I’m very careful about choosing materials that feel good, are environmentally positive and still affordable.
Where science meets sustainable fashion
When people think of fashion, they don’t always think of science. But there are so many links between science and fashion, especially sustainable fashion.
Innovation in materials is one of these links. We can now design with organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, lab-grown materials. These use fewer chemicals, less water and have a lower carbon footprint.
Then there’s supply-chain transparency: blockchain (a shared digital record system) and many brands now use QR codes showing a product’s full lifecycle.
Life-cycle assessments measure environmental impact from the cotton plant to disposal. Recycling innovations turn old clothes or plastic bottles into new materials.
New dyeing methods reduce pollution. Biodegradable and bio-made materials like biodegradable polyester naturally decompose without harmful substances.
These are just the top-line examples, but there’s so much more happening.
Scaling impact through schools and businesses
Everyday Phenomenal started as a B2C brand, meaning that we sold directly to individual consumers via ecommerce. But we’ve evolved the brand to sell directly to businesses, where we produce larger quantities for workwear and uniforms. I’m driven by impact and I want sustainability in the mainstream, especially through schools.
I’m developing sustainable clothing solutions for school uniforms, sportswear, staff wear, leavers’ hoodies and for businesses like cafes, hospitals and gyms.
Every business has some kind of uniform and making that sustainable has a knock-on effect on consumer behaviour and helps businesses with their ethical, social and governance goals.
Currently, I’m working with a nursery in London, a women’s running club, speaking to gyms, and have done a lot of work with my daughter’s school. Many things are in the pipeline.
Inspiring the next generation through action
With my previous brand Fashion Compassion, I gave lots of talks on sustainability and its impact. I’ve visited schools, done assemblies, internships and work placements, and mentored girls wanting to enter sustainability.
With Everyday Phenomenal, I’ve done school tours, workshops, and fashion shows during Green Weeks. Recently, I spoke at the Young London Climate Change Conference with 130 young leaders from nine schools at the London Wetland Centre.
I also took part in EarthFest, London’s first sustainability festival, where we held a fashion show with young models and discussed sustainability and affordable, everyday ways to be greener.
Representation, resilience, and creating meaningful impact
The most rewarding aspects have always been creating impact as opposed to commercial success.
As a South Asian woman and as a mother, I want to create impact on a bigger scale, and bring more real, diverse women into visibility so young people feel, “If she can do it, I can too.”
When I visited schools in East London, many Muslim girls had never seen a woman like me: married, with kids, working, not wearing a headscarf but still holding similar values, running a business and making money.
They don’t always have these role models. Many have written to me afterwards, and I’ve helped some on their journeys, which feels wonderful.
Being named in the BBC 100 Women of 2014 for my sustainability work was huge.
After Rana Plaza, I was invited onto Sky News to discuss its impact from a small-business perspective. Those moments feel meaningful.
Working with young people, giving opportunities and being part of someone’s journey – money can’t buy that feeling!
But it’s still a drop in the ocean. There’s so much more to do.
Building a sustainable fashion business is not without challenges of course, especially since the fashion industry is built on scale – and combining that while trying to do things responsibly is tough.
Being a founder can also be isolating. You have to be your own cheerleader and build a network of fellow founders, your own sisterhood.
Advice for aspiring founders
Advice I’d give to young people who want to follow in my footsteps? Firstly, really know yourself. Understand what problem keeps you up at night: the one you’re passionate about and could build a livelihood around. If you can centre your business on that, that’s ideal.
Always ask yourself: Why am I doing this? What problem am I solving? Is the problem big enough to find an audience?
Secondly: self-belief, clarity, hard work and resilience. You need belief in yourself and what you’re building. And a ‘never give up’ attitude because you’ll hear many “nos” at the start.
Do your research. Know the market. Understand whether you’re truly providing a solution people need. Then grow from there.
This profile was updated on 26 February 2026.
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