How the Sweaty Betty founder created an athleisure tribe

The capital has been working out with Sweaty Betty for 20 years. Its founder tells Katie Strick how she created an athleisure tribe 
Sweaty Betty

It’s cool to sweat now,” says Tamara Hill-Norton, founder of premium activewear brand Sweaty Betty at her bright London HQ by Putney Bridge. The mum of three cycles into work every day from her home in Acton and has just done a lunchtime yoga class at her studios across the road.

There, leggings are the unofficial uniform, which is reflective of a wider revolution across the capital: these days you’ll find a woman in a pair of Sweaty Betty’s famous bum-sculpting leggings in every exercise class in London.

“After two decades I still get such a kick out of that,” says Hill-Norton, who has just celebrated the brand’s 20-year anniversary with more than 4,000 women at a live event. “You can sit there and dither on something within four walls and think, ‘yeah, it’ll sell’, but the ultimate endorsement is just seeing customers wearing them wherever you are.”

Which she does: Sweaty Betty products now have a loyal following in the US and the brand has more than 60 shops across the globe. Last year, Hill-Norton spotted a girl paddleboarding in one of their swimsuits in southern Spain, which “felt amazing”.

It all comes down to quality. “People come back time and time again because they’re prepared to pay for good leggings,” she continues. Her “hero” styles are the Zero Gravity and Power leggings featuring the brand’s famous bum-enhancing technology, which are “high in elastane content and very lightweight. It’s like you’re putting on an amazing pair of sculpted underwear to hold you up. You put them on and you realise, ‘Oh my God, they look amazing’.”

Confidence is important, especially for young women and girls. “They say, from about the age of 11, girls start to not do sport because of what they look like,” Hill-Norton continues. Often that’s because their PE kit is “ugly”. “As soon as they’re allowed to wear a pair of leggings and a cute top or nice sweatshirt, they feel really good about themselves and they want to go and do sport.”

Her own teenage daughters are 18 and 15 — the right age for Sweaty Betty’s XXS legging, but the brand has just launched a new teen legging for 11- to 14-year-olds.

It’s all part of a “tribe” mentality, says Hill-Norton. Unlike with normal clothes, where you’re embarrassed to wear the same dress as someone, people want to feel part of a “team” with their activewear.

Bossing it: founder Tamara Hill-Norton
Supplied

That said, she doesn’t want Sweaty Betty to be seen as an expensive cult. She believes the price point of her products seems “fair” against premium competitors like lululemon and she is proud of the brand’s offering of free in-store fitness classes. “It’s our way of saying, ‘Come on everyone, come in and get fit for free’. You can come as many times as you want.”

She admits the high street is “tough”, so the focus is on experiential retail for boosting footfall. Sweaty Betty’s latest drive includes a new Wellness Wednesday concept featuring talks with industry warriors from the Hemsley sisters to fitness author Max Lowery.

This is the Sweaty Betty lifestyle. Londoners are always “trekking somewhere” and stay in their activewear for longer, so they need layers for the Tube. This winter it’s all about pairing your leggings with a cosy knit and a down jacket, so the brand’s new winter collection features three different base-layer sets of matching tops and leggings in a “fun” retro Union Jack design.

Fun is an important message for the new year: the brand’s upcoming January campaign is a rebellion against the phrase “new year, new you”, Hill-Norton insists. Instead, “It’s ‘old’ me, loving who I am and going to the gym and working out and having fun”. If you lose a few pounds along the way, amazing, but that’s not the ultimate goal.”

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