Sarah Ambrosius: Our 2025 FASHIONPHILE x FSF Scholar
Meet Sarah Ambrosius, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the proud recipient of the 2025 FASHIONPHILE x FSF Scholarship. Sarah’s passion for textile innovation fueled BAGGU By You, her 2025 FSF case study showcasing an AI-powered design feature that individualizes the customer experience. Her vision for BAGGU By You aligned with FASHIONPHILE’s commitment to innovation in luxury resale.
Who Is Sarah Ambrosius?
Sarah is a Textiles and Fashion Design major specializing in woven structures. She’s deeply interested in new ways textiles can be woven into our daily lives, including their application in industries like home and apparel. Her winning case study, BAGGU By You, views textiles through a business strategy lens. In it, Sarah demonstrates how AI technology can enhance the BAGGU customer experience through personalization, co-creation, and community connection.
“I based my case study on innovative textiles and innovative textile design because that’s really where my passion in the industry lies.”
BAGGU By You: A Visionary Case Study
Drawn to BAGGU’s creative use of textiles, Sarah developed a business strategy to drive BAGGU’s e-commerce growth and strengthen the consumer connection to the brand.
“BAGGU By You is an innovative feature that uses AI-generated images through Leonardo AI to create unique and personalized print designs based on consumer input.”
As a circular brand, BAGGU transforms pre-consumer waste recycled materials into reusable bags and accessories. It is tremendously popular with Gen Z and Millennial audiences, leading many of its limited-edition products to sell out overnight. Sarah’s proposed design feature addresses the customer pain point of securing sought-after styles by putting the paintbrush in their hands through an AI-powered tool.
BAGGU By You lets shoppers create custom prints and patterns that are uniquely theirs. As partners in the creative process, customers can generate functional designs through Leonardo AI and secure one-of-a-kind Standard Baggu bags that resonate with their identities and digital communities.
The case study covers development to implementation. Sarah proposes using influencer marketing, user-generated content, and branded contests to promote the launch, increase brand awareness, and further connect the consumer with the final product. The customer involvement across multiple stages adds value to the product, experience, and community alike.
BAGGU By You increases brand loyalty, engagement, and awareness while reducing mass production. Its ingenious use of AI technology enables the creative expression of shoppers, making personal design possible and accessible. Moreover, BAGGU By You empowers consumers to make eco-conscious choices that serve the planet and further BAGGU’s sustainable mission.
Sarah’s Future Goals
Sarah’s commitment to innovative textiles and textile design extends to her professional goals. She sees a future in the textile industry, focusing on textile development, material development, and the scientific engineering of textiles. As our Class of 2025 Scholar, we can’t wait to see the exciting ways she moves fashion forward. You can connect with Sarah on LinkedIn here.
“As far as career aspirations go, I really am hoping to get into the textile industry.”
About the FASHIONPHILE x FSF Scholarship Fund
FASHIONPHILE is proud to partner with the Fashion Scholarship Fund to award the FASHIONPHILE x FSF Scholarship. Our scholarship aims to promote an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workforce in the fashion industry and is awarded to an applicant who successfully competes in the FSF Scholarship Competition. Get to know our past winners, Class of 2023 Scholar Ella Vap and Class of 2024 Scholar Annika Geissberger.
