Startup Of The Week : Ciriana - A Sustainable Fashion Company

We’re spotlighting Ciriana — the sustainable fashion house proving that couture can be as clean as it is captivating. After twelve years in the industry, Ciriana has gone all-in on organic and natural materials, sourcing exclusively from small, certified suppliers whose sustainable practices are verified worldwide. With three distinctive brands — premium coats, menswear, and silk couture — and a new R&D division pioneering a chemical-free, low-water natural dyeing process, Ciriana is reshaping fashion from fiber to finish. The future of style isn’t just about how it looks — it’s about how it’s made, and Ciriana is leading the runway toward a healthier planet.

1. Tell us about your company. 

Ciriana is a fashion house that has been operating for twelve years. Last year, the company transitioned its production to use only organic and natural materials and components. Ciriana sources from small, certified suppliers worldwide whose sustainable practices can be verified. Currently, it manages three separate brands, each focusing on a different category: premium coats, menswear, and silk couture. Additionally, a startup research and development centre is being established to serve as a fourth division of the company. The R&D will be working on developing a natural dyeing process that completely eliminates chemicals and reduces water, energy, and waste.

2. What made you become an entrepreneur? 

My career as a management consultant led me to the moment when - instead of helping other executives and business owners how to run their business - I decided to build my own start-up experience. I was looking for freedom, for an opportunity to experiment with new ideas and to take risk, but most of all I wanted to create my own artistic fashion with a mission to make the world a better place.

3.What is the most challenging part of running your startup?

One of the most challenging aspects of running my startup is selling innovative solutions and building trust in them. The innovative is the unknown, which means frightening and risky businesswise.

4.What is the biggest challenge you have faced when looking for funding?

I find it difficult to explain complex science issues in a concise and convincing way. It is also challenging to promise delivering concrete figures at the pre-seed stage of our startup development. We use extensive market data to create business models and simulations but still there is a lot of unknown related to geopolitical situation and unstable markets. Not knowing precise market conditions within the next few years, which we still need to fully develop our solution, makes it difficult to be convincing.

5.What is the most rewarding aspect of entrepreneurship?

My startup is on a mission to improve the condition of human health exposed permanently to the toxic effects of synthetics contained in clothing and the substances used to dye them. I made the first step by having developed totally clean clothing lines which do not cause any harmful effects on human health or the environment. In May 2025 Ciriana Haute Coat was rewarded by fashion experts at a prestigious fashion festival in Cannes as the best emerging brand out of 60 candidates. This proved that the direction I took was good and my organic fashion lines are appreciated for their aesthetics and their wearability, not only for being healthy. I am extremely proud of this achievement. As an entrepreneur with hundreds of ideas per minute I am happy that some of them work - while confronted with the real world and demanding fashion consumers.

Learn more about the company: www.ciriana.it