In this two‑minute trailer for The Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast, host Jim James introduces Brian Wong, a young Toronto‑based entrepreneur and founder of Normans, an online fashion brand that positions itself as a practical, sustainable clothing line. Wong explains that Normans focuses on three core commitments: (1) implementing sustainability in a realistic, business‑friendly way, (2) creating comfortable yet presentable work‑from‑home and office apparel, and (3) aspiring to inspire other brands. He emphasizes that direct communication with customers—whether through existing buyers or cold outreach—yields better results than silence. Wong discusses how consumers increasingly seek ethical, fully sustainable brands, but they also value transparency about what is truly green versus what is not. He stresses that Normans avoids green‑washing, opting for honest disclosure of its sustainability progress, which he believes resonates with customers. The trailer ends with a reminder that a full 20‑minute episode will be released soon. The podcast is sponsored by Prowly, a PR tool.
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The Unnoticed Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored by Prowly, the all-in-one tool for PR experts.
Today, I'm going to introduce you to Brian Wong, who's a young entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada. Brian, explain about Normans and what you're doing with this company.
I don't have a sales or like a marketing background. And so I'm online learning all these on the fly. I do think on the days that I talk to, whether it is the people who have bought our products already or try to talk to people that like just kind of cold call or whatnot. At a high level, if the days that I have communicated to the outside about my brand, I usually get better results than the days I do not do that. Normans, it's an online fashion brand. We also brand out a sustainable fashion brand and we really stand for 3 main things. One, we try to practice sustainability in a practical way for our business. Number 2, we produce products that they can wear working from home or going to the office, looking presentable, right for business, but also feel comfortable. And a longer-term vision is to become a source of inspiration for others.
Brian, you put sustainability on your website. How important do you think that is to your consumers?
People actually buy things. They will be like, hey, I will only buy what they call ethical brands, right? Or like brands that are contributing or like fully sustainable. That's important to them because they want to do those things themselves. But what they cannot control sometimes is that the companies or the brands that they consume from, right? What they eat, what they wear, what they, you know, entertainment and all that. And so that is actually a lot more important to our consumers than we thought. And so we are not by no means going to try to use this as a thing just to draw attention. We actually try to walk the walk as well, right? And that's what we emphasize. We, not everything is green at this point. Okay. We will be 100% honest, but we are trying to practice it as much as we can. And so far, I think it's pretty well received. Received by our consumer because it's not just because it's sustainability, but more important is that we are very transparent in terms of which part of it it is. And I think, you know, people who learn about our brand appreciate that because it's also realistic. If I go around and tell people, hey, you know what, I have this very green new technology that we have and I'm a startup and, you know, like that just doesn't add up. Right. I think now it just sounds a lot more authentic and realistic in terms of what we do. And I think people resonate with that.
Now, this was just a 2-minute trailer for a full 20-minute show. The show will be dropping into your feed in the next day or so. So do look out for it and do enjoy it, share it, and review it. Thanks for listening to this trailer of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur.
The Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast is sponsored by Prowly, the all-in-one tool for PR experts.
