Everything feels pretty bad. 2021 isn’t exactly going well and February isn’t even over yet.
How can one dull the numb ache of pandemic life? Maybe it’s time for a nap? No — maybe it’s time for a long nap wearing a flowy floral dress that makes you feel like you’ve leaped out of a Jane Austen novel or Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.
It’s this daydream that launched Hill House Home’s “Nap Dress” into viral stardom last year, when being cooped up in our homes all the time was still a fairly new feeling. IG influencers bravely threw out their sweatpants and opted for the new pandemic-chic nap to Zoom meeting attire.
Recently, on February 10, Hill House launched its latest collection whimsically called “The English Garden.” According to a report from Fast Company’s Elizabeth Segran, the clothing company sold $1 million of its coveted Nap Dress in just 12 minutes, and made more revenue than it had made in the entire year of 2019 by the end of the day.
The dresses come in varying fabrics and a few different lengths, but more or less all resemble a light cotton gown with a smocking bodice and frilly sleeves. Think French countryside. The prices of the Nap Dresses range between $75 and $150.
“The point of the Nap Dress has always been to have a garment that is comfortable and makes you feel really put together,” Hill House Home founder and CEO Nell Diamond told WWD. “It can also carry you from making your toddler breakfast to your Zoom meeting with your boss to theoretically going out to dinner with your friends.”
With its sudden spike in success, the brand recently landed $6 million in Series A funding to expand its new influencer empire. Last year, Hill House saw a 275 increase in sales as other businesses struggled in the pandemic.
“For me and for the business as a whole, this garment can literally be the thing you wear when you’re having your coffee every single morning, but also something that feels celebratory enough that you can wear it when you get the [COVID-19] vaccine,” Diamond said. “That’s everything that we want to create because I think those moments are both of the fabric of life and we really want to be there for women along those milestones and in the everyday.”
