How HyperNatural validated a new category in days, not months
HyperNatural used Echo to test message resonance, segment audiences, and close the gap from awareness to purchase — before scaling spend on website, social, and paid media.
- Company
- HyperNatural
- Contact
- Chris Kolbe, Founder & CEO
- Industry
- Apparel & Retail
- Use Case
- Message Resonance & Audience Segmentation
I'm using what echo gave me in a few days right now and in every meeting I have.
Wellness you can wear — a category worth building.
HyperNatural is rewriting the rules of performance apparel. Their patent-pending fabrics use jade stone and crab shells to create a high-performance material that is comfortable, chemical-free, and 95% biodegradable — eliminating the plastics and toxins found in most athletic wear.
Their mission sits at the intersection of wellness and sustainability: products that are as good for your body as they are for the planet.
The challenge of creating a market that doesn't exist yet.
HyperNatural isn't competing in an existing market — they're creating one. "Wellness you can wear" requires educating consumers, overcoming skepticism, and convincing buyers to leave behind trusted premium brands like Lululemon and Vuori.
They needed to understand who was ready to act, what messaging would move them, and how to justify a premium price — and they needed to know fast.
Sizing a nascent market
HyperNatural needed to determine how real their category was — measuring genuine demand for "wellness apparel" before committing to large-scale spend.
Bridging interest to purchase
General awareness of toxic fabrics existed, but willingness to pay a premium for an alternative was a different — and harder — challenge entirely.
Explaining the science
Jade stone and crab shell fabrics are genuinely novel. Overcoming "I've never heard of this" skepticism required the right message, not just more reach.
Traditional research was too robust, cost prohibitive and took too long. Peeling the onion back layer by layer and getting to the core of understanding our ideal customers — that's what echo gave us.
Research that arrived too late to matter.
Traditional consumer research was thorough but slow — 3 to 4 months before usable signals returned. By the time findings arrived, the window to act on them had often passed. And at the cost involved, it wasn't repeatable or agile enough to keep pace with a fast-moving launch.
typical research cycle before usable signals were available to the team
full research engagements weren't practical for early-stage message testing
findings often lacked the specificity needed to directly shape creative or media decisions
More problem awareness than expected
Consumers were already more aware of harmful materials in clothing than the team had assumed — creating a warmer entry point for HyperNatural's message and validating that the category had a real foundation.
Awareness ≠ willingness to pay
A clear gap existed between those interested in sustainable wellness apparel and those ready to spend more for it. The bridge: education on why HyperNatural's materials are genuinely better — for performance and for health. "We need to close the gap with education about why this is better for you."
"Wellness you can wear" outperforms "Detox your wardrobe"
Positive framing resonated significantly better than negative messaging. The team will lead with the aspirational positioning and use the detox angle as a secondary, sequenced message — not the lead.
The materials are the differentiator — lean in
Jade stone and crab shell fabrics are novel enough to generate skepticism, but compelling enough to convert it. Leaning into the specificity of the materials directly addresses "I haven't heard of this, so it can't be true" doubt.
It's an interesting forum for research that provides fluidity and a high response rate. You can talk to your audience and get clear responses back to get you closer to what you want to know.
Every marketing decision is now grounded in signal.
HyperNatural's entire marketing, messaging, and creative strategy has been rebuilt around echo's findings. Rather than testing and iterating in-market at scale, the team validated their approach before spending — eliminating waste and entering each channel with confidence.
Echo's findings are also shaping product decisions, not just campaign ones — giving the team a continuous feedback loop that compounds in value over time.
Message sequencing
Leading with "Wellness you can wear," followed by the "Detox your wardrobe" narrative for warmed audiences.
Audience segmentation
Distinct messaging tracks for different customer readiness levels — from awareness to conversion.
Zero wasted creative
Budget deployed only on messaging already proven to resonate before launch.
Product roadmap input
Insights from echo now inform future product decisions beyond marketing.
The quality of usability of the output and the speed at which insights were delivered. The platform and the team was great to work with and we were able to easily translate our need into action.
HyperNatural is just getting started on echo.
Media Mix Modeling
Determining the best channel mix to deploy these insights — and understanding what individuals (athletes, influencers) and mediums (podcasts, social) carry the most weight with their audience.
Visual Asset Testing
Testing ad creative and product imagery before launch to ensure visuals are as optimized as the messaging already refined through echo studies.
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