Just five months ago, Lisa Bean of Greenfield got the idea to launch a line of cozy, comfortable clothes for women.
This month, “Happy Girl Edit & Company” brand clothing will become a reality. Products will be available soon Bean’s brand new online store.
“I had the idea in March, and my husband said, ‘We have to do it,” Bean said. “It has really been a joint and family effort.”
Bean, who has lived in Greenfield since 2020, has decades of experience in marketing and specializes in online sales and social media marketing in the beauty industry. She also has a “side gig” teaching social media marketing classes to business owners and professionals.
Bean, her husband, Greg Aiken, their daughter, Sophia, their boys Zach and Alex, and Lisa’s mom, Sharon, have all helped create the Happy Girl Edit & Co.
“I have tons of imposter syndrome,” Bean said about launching a clothing line. “I’m thinking, what am I even doing that gives me permission to do this? My daughter was originally like, ‘Mom, that’s cringey.’ But my husband was like, ‘That’s it. We’re doing this. There is something to this.'”
Aiken, who has a background in sales, is also an entrepreneur who runs his own company providing lab and testing services.
Bean named her new clothing line Happy Girl Edit and Co. in honor of the true joy she has found in midlife.
“When I was younger, I thought I always had to be doing something. I thought we always had to be busy and doing these big things. But the older I get, I realize I don’t always have to be doing something; I don’t always have to be productive,” Bean said. “I used to always think, ‘Once I do this certain thing, then I’ll be happy.’ Now I realize I can just hang out with my family, and I’m a happy girl. All the stuff I was chasing, always trying to get to the next level– it wasn’t about happiness, and it didn’t make me happy. I realized I actually was happy, even if I wasn’t doing anything big or exciting.”
Bean says the Happy Girl Edit brand represents the opposite of “toxic positivity.”
“‘Toxic positivity’ is this message that you have to be happy all the time, no matter what is happening; that you have to fake it. That’s a very toxic feeling, and it makes you feel bad, because you can’t force it. I was guilty of that for a long time. But you’re not happy all the time. Sometimes you just don’t feel good, and that’s ok,” Bean said. “Real happiness is about finding joy in everyday life, in the little things. You can be having the worst day, but on that same day, you can appreciate something good in your life, even if it’s just a cup of tea or a nap. You celebrate little things and big things.”
Happy Girl Edit’s brand taglines include “Define happiness on your own terms,” and “Happiness looks different for everyone.”
Bean says she began thinking about starting a line of leisure wear partly because she is the mom of a teenage girl.
“Leisure wear is all the kids want to wear, and what we spend on this stuff is insane,” Bean said.
Bean says the brand name “Happy Girl” was already in use, so she added “Edit,” meaning “edition.” Happy Girl Edit & Co. offers matching sets of sweats, sweatshirts, and t-shirts, and also sells each item separately. Bean and her team have spent months choosing colors that give the right vibe and fit the image she wants the brand to project.
“I had samples of five different pinks at one point, and it was like, nope, it’s still not right, but we got there,” Bean said.
Bean and Aiken learned the process of finding a supplier, talking to different vendors and manufacturers. In April, they went to New York City to try to meet with American manufacturing partners, but none of them were interested.
“One guy just completely ghosted us. We hope nothing happened to him,” Bean said.
Bean is now working with a textile supplier in Pakistan.
“We did choose not to go with China,” she said. “We’re really happy with who we’re working with; they have been great, and the products don’t have to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Bean initially planned that the brand’s logo would not be visible on the clothes, but a design mistake caused her to reconsider.
“One of my designers accidentally put the logo right on the clothing, and we all loved it,” Bean said.
Bean says Happy Girl Edit & Co. is “all about comfort.”
“Who doesn’t like to be cozy?” Bean said. “These clothes are for everyone; we represent three generations of women — me, my mom, and my daughter. Everything has an oversize fit. We dissected every inch of the product, and we’ve done two rounds of samples. We have hundreds of pieces coming in this month, and we’re just so super excited about it. We’re hoping we can order 300 of each piece to get started. We have really great pricing with sets.”
Happy Girl Edit will launch as e-commerce, followed by pop-up sales.
“We would love to have a brick-and-mortar store at some point. We’re not sure where; possibly closer to the seacoast region,” Bean said.
The family is launching the brand just as Sophia heads off to college, where she plans to minor in marketing.
“It’s kind of a legacy for our family. It’s something positive we can all work together in these really difficult times,” Bean said.
Bean’s plans for Happy Girl Edit and Co. include giving back: her plan is that once the brand is established, a portion of Happy Girl’s profits will go toward providing new clothing sets for foster children in the New Hampshire DCYF system.
“I saw a story about a 19-year-old foster child who was moving his things in garbage bags when they moved from home to home, and that just stuck with me. It was so sad,” Bean said. “So I thought, imagine if these kids had new clothes there to welcome them when they have to move homes? We’re going to do sizing for kids and curate different colors for that; it would not be something we sell. It would be our way of giving back. It’s one thing we could do to help make people happy.”
Happy Girl Edit & Co. products will be available soon at thehappygirleditandco.com/collections/all
