A London activewear brand, founded in 1998 by Tamara and Simon Hill-Norton, making clothes for women who are active.
Sweaty Betty designs and sells activewear for women. Its range covers leggings, sports bras, tops, hoodies, coats and accessories, organised by activity such as yoga, running, gym, hiking and tennis, and it also sells maternity wear. It sells through its own shops and online and, on its founder page, says it has stores in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, plus concessions in the US, Canada and the Middle East. Wikipedia's account is that as of May 2022 it had 47 boutiques and 14 department-store concessions in the UK, though the page also gives a different figure of more than 50, so the number is uncertain.
Tamara Hill-Norton founded the company in 1998 with her husband Simon. After university she moved to London and found there was little activewear for women, so she opened a first shop in Notting Hill. She says her first hire quit the night before opening, so she ran the shop alone over Christmas and learned a lot about customers. The brand's mission is now "to empower ALL women through fitness and beyond", and a Built In London profile describes fitness as a "flip-the-switch trigger for becoming the woman you want to be".
Sweaty Betty is a London company: Wikipedia and Built In London both give London as its headquarters, and a Retail Gazette headline (2017) refers to its flagship on Carnaby Street. Built In London listed 621 employees, which is a directory figure that may be dated. Wikipedia says the company has been owned by Wolverine Worldwide since August 2021, but it continues to trade under its own name. We could not confirm the exact head-office address or how teams are split between the office and the shops.
On culture, the company says it uses responsibly sourced materials and recycled bottles in some clothing, and talks about caring for both people and the planet. It has built a community around fitness, including classes and events in the shops, though we did not read a page describing these. A formal values list and details on working life were not in the pages we read, so the picture is based on the founder's story and the brand's own marketing.
A brand like this employs many kinds of people: store teams who advise customers, buyers and merchandisers, designers and product developers, fabric and quality specialists, online and ecommerce staff, marketing and community managers, and head-office support in finance, people and operations. If you enjoy fitness, fashion or retail, it shows how one idea from a founder who could not find clothes she wanted grew into a national brand.
Website: www.sweatybetty.com
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