What is hapola?

Hapola is an inclusive womens sportswear brand tackling key barriers women face when participating in sports. Our aim is to keep women in physically active and in sport by providing suitable/appropriate sports kit.

where is hapola based?

We are located in Wales, UK. We do not limit ourselves though as we seek to make an impact across the whole of the UK and provide shipping to certain countries in Europe also.

What makes hapola different from other sports brands?

We are wholly focused on girls/women and providing them with high quality sportswear. We could have easily made cheaper products and aimed for higher profit margins starting off but we did not want to compromise on quality. Womens sport has been over looked for years, we believe womens sport deserves high quality in all aspects.

We put women at the forefront of our minds during product development. We are developing sportswear specifically for women whether that’s creating products with period protection gussets or taking care with how the products fit the female body.

What does being inclusive mean to hapola?

Being inclusive is about providing girls/women with a CHOICE. A choice in the sports kit they feel comfortable wearing, offering adequate kit beyond traditional stereotypes with the aim of promoting participation.

We want to produce sports kit that empowers girls/women to either take up or maintain physical exercise whether that’s for keeping healthy, having fun or to raise their performance.

We will prioritise comfort and practicality in our designs, offering a range of sizes, celebrating an expression of identity within sport.

What makes hapola skorts/shorts inclusive?

Our skorts and shorts have been developed with a period/leak proof protection gusset discreetly built into the undershort to provide confidence to participate in physical activity when on your period or going through any stage of life that brings about leaking. The gusset holds up to 20ml of liquid. We found period leakage in young girls to be one of the biggest barriers/concerns with young girls - ‘60% worry about leaking during PE’ (Youth Sport Trust, 2023).

‘7 in 10 girls avoid exercising during their period’ with ‘62% fearing leakage’ (Women in Sport, 2022).

One of the top concerns amongst girls/women wearing skorts was that they were revealing and restrictive. That’s why we spent a considerable amount of time testing fabric quality and adjusting our size guide until we were happy with it. Our skorts use high quality fabric even though this cost us a lot more. We wanted to set the standard, not provide something that looked/felt cheap. They are made from 74% Nylon and 26% Elastane allowing it to move with your body rather than restricting movement and we made developed them with extra length at the back to protect decency when performing sporting movements.

You may find the skorts/shorts feel a little heavier than other brands but this is because the fabric ‘gsm’ (grams per metre) is much greater. This allows them to stay in place much better than other traditional skorts. The undershort material has also been cleverly chosen with a brushed finish inside to prevent them rising as much as possible.

Is sustainability and ethics important to hapola?

Yes, we are sustainable where possible and will continue to actively review best practices, always aiming to improve. At this moment in time the ‘frosted zipper bags’ our skorts/shorts come in are from recycled materials and are further recyclable.

We are also using brown paper bags to deliver your orders to you, these are also recyclable.

It is also important to us to use recycled materials for our products when possible. Our leak proof skorts and shorts have been produced using recycled yarn. This is something we worked closely with the factory on, ensuring we did not compromise quality in the process. One of the materials used in the leak proof gusset is ‘merino wool’, we ensured that relevant certificates were shared with us regarding the origin of the wool and that no animals were harmed in the process.

One of Hapola’s core values is to ensure fair pay and processes in our product development. We ensured that the factories shared relevant paperwork and certifications (BSCI reports) with us regarding how their staff are treated, working environments, fair pay etc.