Our Story
The Idea
Hot Hugger is here today because my girlfriend has Crohn’s. At school, she was in a lot of pain and constantly lugging around great big hot water bottles. Putting them down, picking them up, awkwardly balancing and shoving them down her trousers. It was painful to watch. I had an idea, she needed a wearable hot water bottle! That would be amazing for her, as she could relieve her pains and still get on with her life. The Only problem was I couldn’t find one anywhere. so I decided to make one for her.
Designing
I started by tracing around a hot water bottle onto old tea towels and bath towels, then cutting it out and sewing it together with my mum's sewing machine. The arms were held together by plastic Ikea clips used to seal half-eaten food. So it looked terrible, but I gave it to my girlfriend, and she loved it! I carried on making them, improving the design and fabrics every time. My sister, who has ME/CFS, also started using them and absolutely loved them. They all started wearing the prototypes almost every day, and I saw how much it helped improve their quality of life. I thought I had to make more of these so other people with chronic illnesses could also benefit from the easy pain relief of having a wearable hot water bottle.
The Next Step
I kept improving the design and ended up working with my neighbour, who is a curtain maker, using her studio to make sure the Hot Hugger was perfect. I wanted to design something that LOOKED GOOD because I’ve seen so many pain relief products look clinical and ugly. So I made sure the design was refined and in proportion to the golden ratio, which "represents the most aesthetic proportions for the brain." It was also really important that the Hot Hugger was made out of the perfect fabrics.
The Fabrics
We tested over 100 different fabrics for the Hot Hugger. It was so hard because we needed something that was aesthetic, durable, easy to clean, had good heat insulation, and was comfortable to wear. After countless trips to wholesale fabric suppliers all around the UK and orders online, so many fabrics came close but weren’t good enough. We needed to make the experience with the Hot Hugger amazing. That’s when, after almost giving up, we found the Super Soft Cuddle Fur. It ticked all the boxes and is sooo soft. Unlike other soft fabrics, it is very durable, which was important as we’ve seen how much people use their Hot Huggers.
That’s the story :) We now have the design patented, and every day, Hot Hugger is helping new people manage their pain and do more!