About us
Interested to know a bit more about us? Well, here's our story so far.
Where did it all begin for happystride?
Combining Pete’s love of running, and Sam’s passion for brands (alongside her when-she-feels-like-it ‘passion’ for running), in 2019, we launched a fun new running & fitness clothing brand which inspires happy running and wellbeing.
Pete and Sam (also husband and wife), have always wanted to ‘start a business’ and knowing that some of the best businesses are built on passion – something that Pete definitely has for running - it felt a running related idea was spot on.
Pete loves running. Whether it’s a marathon, half marathon, 10k, parkrun or an ultra-marathon of a 100 miles. He loves it and it makes him happy.
“Who isn’t happy during and when they finish a run?” says Pete. “It helps me with all areas in my life including mental health & wellbeing and when I finish a training run or race… I feel pumped for life.”
“After reading ‘Shoe Dog’, Phil Knight’s book on how he launched Nike,” Pete explains, “it got me feeling inspired to consider opportunities in the market for running clothing. A few days after, I ran a local parkrun and looked at this photo afterwards. I noticed a lot of boring black shorts... including my own!”
So, after some research on starting a business, a few late nights and coffee meetings later... happystride was born with a couple of shorts - banana and parrot designs - that we felt super proud of!
Fast forward to 2025 and we now have a range of over 70+ designs, load of products which have also been spotted in the hands of Joe Wicks, Giovanni Fletcher, Anna McNuff and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
We're proud to work with a fulfilment centre (not our spare bedroom anymore - phew!), allowing us to focus on innovation, marketing and growth whilst the fab team at Despatch Bros take care of packaging up your orders.
And we’re super proud of the awards we’ve won from Women’s Running magazine for our classic shorts, fitted shorts and sunglasses.
OK that’s cool! So what actually is happystride?
We’re a sports and movement brand specialising in bright and functional running and activewear. Our award winning running and activewear will make you stand out from the crowd with cool, colourful designs which are also great quality too! Our kit is really functional too - with phone pouches, inner shorts and pockets. Our products are built to last – we spend a lot of time testing materials, products to make sure they are built to go the extra mile.
You can get kitted out in shorts, sunglasses, leggings, t-shirts, vests, long sleeves, waterproof jackets, bobbles, socks and wrapits in all sizes from XS-XXXL, we cater for everyone. We also created a few more casual pieces for runners to wear outside of actually running- like casual tees and hoodies.
Something we’ve noticed is that everyone is different; people love totally different designs. Some like to go matchy-matchy with their tops and bottoms. Groups and teams love us too, to go matchy-matchy for events and races! And we love taking inspiration from our community and asking our customers what designs they want next!
What does happystride aim to do?
Our mission is to inspire happy running, movement and fitness as we know how much movement can inspire happy minds. Every time someone receives a piece of clothing from happystride, it is wrapped and dispatched with love. We understand the importance of community and customer service and aim to deliver world class customer service at all times (WCCS). Check out our Trustpilot where we’re rated excellent. See reviews yourself - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/happystride.co.uk
Our clothing makes people happy and we love it! Whether on a walk, hike, in the gym, on a training run or at a race. Happystride makes people happy, it encourages conversations and empowers communities to get moving!
Happystride = happy minds.. supporting mental health charities is important to us.
We understand that running & fitness provides huge benefits for your mental health. It helps you and as we like to say “Running & fitness makes you happy”. Therefore from every product sold we make a donation to a mental health charity. This year (2025) we are supporting Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). 1% of all product sales will be donated to CALM (Charity number 1110621 in England & SC044347 in Scotland).
In the past we have also supported other chosen charities such as MIND, My Black Dog and Young Minds.
What’s your favourite part about running happystride?
Sam- I love it when people tag us on social media, in particular when it’s a team event and a whole team have chosen to wear matchy-matchy happystride shorts, leggings or vests! They are my real favourite heart warming moments ❤️.
Pete- I love hearing from our customers all over the UK and the few across the globe – every customer has a different running background and likes different designs. I love that happystride has the ability to make people happy.
So that’s a bit more about us. We’re always here for a chat, and if you have any questions please let us know! We love your ideas too for anything you’d love to see from us!