New Year, New Us! Discover What's In Store For Us This 2019
We've got some news! Hip & Healthy is going back to its roots. Originally a digital wellbeing magazine, we are saying goodbye to our store to focus on bringing you even more inspiring content.
When I started Hip & Healthy seven years ago – I did so with a mission – to inspire women to be the best versions of themselves – wherever they are in the world. If you were one of our earliest readers, you will be familiar with my startup story, but for those who aren't, here it is in a nutshell: The first ever magazine I created was called Health Henley and was health magazine that I actually wrote, designed, printed and funded through selling advertising for the well-heeled Henley-on-Thames residents. Such is my passion for wellbeing (and magazines), that I personally delivered this publication to 1000 homes, dentists, doctors, businesses and cafes, most of the time in the rain. Almost as soon as I delivered the last copy, Condé Nast called and offered me a job. So after a couple of weeks spent at my parent's house in LA, I found myself in the mecca that is Vogue House just off Hanover Square working at Condé Nast Traveller. Although I tried hard to fit in (I swapped my trainers for heels at least two blocks before entering the building), my love of all things health and fitness prevailed and it wasn't long before the team realised never to send me out for biscuits as I would often return with a low-sugar, dairy-free alternative (read oatcakes!). After a few years at CN I got an opportunity to take a six-month sabbatical with my then-boyfriend-now-husband to go to Hong Kong and it was then that I found the time to combine my absolute two loves in life – health and magazines. With an idea to create something that was not like other health magazines, something that had the aspirational value of Condé Nast titles and that talked about health and wellbeing as a lifestyle, not a fad – Hip & Healthy was born.
My time in Hong Kong went by quickly and I was soon back at my desk in Vogue House resuming previous roles (and new ones) and for a year or so I worked on both this and Hip & Healthy in tandem. Then the time came to make the leap. H&H had grown enough of a following that I felt it needed my full attention to push it further. It was 2012, I was due to get married, so what better way to start married life than doing something I truly, and wholeheartedly loved. I left that Spring. It was at this moment that I decided to launch the Hip & Healthy Store. I launched the store because it seemed like the natural progression from the content. One of the biggest challenges with H&H was the old way that wellbeing was photographed, which meant that I wanted to take all of our own imagery. So, I worked with upcoming activewear brands from New York / LA / Sydney and asked for them to lend us clothes so that we could shoot images that were inspiring for our readers. It was at this moment that I started receiving a ton of questions about where the clothes were from and a light bulb went off above my head – I needed to sell these awesome clothes. London had nothing like them at the time. And so the store was born. And, over the years, it grew and evolved beyond anything I could have imagined. We had thousands of customers from a variety of cities and countries. Our team grew by precisely one a year (and remains on this trajectory with our newest member joining just a few months ago!). The wellbeing market was a great one to be in and we truly were the first online multi-brand activewear store to launch here in the UK. We worked on an in-store pop up at Liberty for two months, launch our own concept store in Elizabeth Street, visited far-flung places always on the search to bring our customers carefully curated products from some of the best brands in the world! But in today's world markets can change incredibly quickly and we faced some of our biggest challenges in retail this past year. I started to feel that the content – the heart and soul of Hip & Healthy – had begun to suffer as a result of our un-focussed attentions, which led to a lot of inward facing discussions about what we were trying to do. Time and time again we have come back to our mission statement. And in the end, we have made a decision that has not been easy but feels totally natural and in keeping with our former goal. We have decided to close the store and focus on doing what we do best – producing amazing content to inspire women to be the best versions of themselves where-ever they are in the world.
Return of the Mag
We are so excited about this move back to focus on delivering amazing content. We have a ton of exciting new features to go alongside our usual inspiring content. Expect plenty more wellbeing advice, mouth-watering healthy recipes, travel inspiration, the latest happenings in the wellness industry, as well as some inspiring interviews with some of you, 're favourite celebs and health and fitness gurus.
If you don't already, head over to Instagram and follow us @hipandhealthy and we'll be filling your feed with inspirational content to keep you motivated to be the best version of you!
Thank you all for your support over the last few years, we are super excited to continue being your go-to source of all things wellbeing!
Sadie & The H&H Team x
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