LONDON — Three months into the launch of her new eco-conscious ready-to-wear label Happy x Nature, Kate Hudson was ready to take it global.
She partnered with Selfridges to debut an exclusive shop-in-shop in the department store’s denim studio, which marks the brand’s first major retail partnership.
“This launch allows us to have a global platform and as someone who loves fashion, the Selfridges shopping experience is maybe my favorite in the world and we get to be among some of the best brands in the world,” said Hudson in an interview, adding that she worked with the retailer’s team to curate an edit that is reflective of the brand’s carefree spirit.
“We do a real mix of very feminine, very fluid pieces but there’s also elements of utility. So for me it’s about showing people this mix and also the more fashion-forward items we do.”
Related Galleries
Some of these items include a striking lamé green mini dresses, mixed in with more laid-back loose demin trousers, boiler suits and elegant silk blouses.
Hudson wanted to take a more traditional approach when it came to entering the fashion arena, compared to her highly successful activewear business Fabletics, which is based on a digitally native, subscription-based model.
More wholesale partnerships, brick-and-mortar retail and new categories are all in her future plans for Happy x Nature: “I really look forward to opening up my store because I think that will really be able to highlight what the brand is all about and what we have been formulating. I think it’s a lifestyle and it can expand into everything from home, to kids to other lifestyle products. I don’t want it to be singularly focused, I want to use the brand as a platform to celebrate people who are doing great things for our world, in a very chic way.”
At the same time she has embraced a lot of the same values that have come to define Fabletics, namely the focus on community-building and accessibility.
“It comes across all my work. The movies that I have made that people respond to are very accessible and just how I share my life is for some reason, accessible to people. So I embrace that instead of hiding away from it, I realize that it can have a real impact if I’m going to get into more businesses and there’s a large group of people who want to understand this kind of lifestyle,” said Hudson.
That’s why providing entry-level price points, ranging from $50 to $200, and also “elevating those accessible price points” was at the heart of her strategy for the new label.
She was also determined to figure out how to achieve those price points while building a sustainable, eco-friendly business all around, from the eco fabrics to the biodegradable packaging the company uses.
“The more I’m getting into this, I find that this is the most difficult area to tackle when you’re looking at sustainability and an accessible price. You enter this incredibly exciting world of trying to figure out solutions to really large problems for our environment and slowly moving the dialogue about responsible sourcing forward,” she explained, also pointing to the importance of having those conversations in a more optimistic, lighthearted way. “It’s important to conscious, it’s important to be mindful but I think when you start to get too serious, you lose a big portion of the people that you’re trying to get on board. You start to get too preachy and it kind of alienates instead of bringing people in.”