By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
Palisades Village has welcomed its latest retailer to the development: Madhappy, which opened the doors of its summer pop-up shop on Saturday, June 18.
Founded in 2017 by four friends—Mason Spector, Joshua Sitt, and brothers Peiman and Noah Raf—Madhappy has set out to build a lifestyle apparel brand “centered around mental health that hopes to create conversation [and] drive the advancement of mental health in a 360-degree way,” the team shared with the Palisadian-Post.
“Mental health is the great equalizer,” Spector said. “It is the through line that connects everything in our lives, it is what connects us all to each other. It is the most powerful thing that exists in our world, and the more attention we pay to it, the more fulfilled our lives can be.”
Spector explained that growing up, his anxiety and depression manifested themselves into challenges with addiction as he grew older.
“As we were first growing Madhappy, I hit a point that forced me to face those issues head-on, leading me down a path of sobriety and a healthier relationship with myself,” he continued. “I am fortunate enough where I can incorporate these lessons into my professional life too, where Madhappy’s ethos aligns with a lot of my own personal struggles.”
After choosing the name Madhappy, the founders said they set out to build something deeper than solely apparel. In the past five years, they have created and dedicated resources toward mental health awareness, including The Madhappy Podcast—which has hosted a series of conversations on mental health with guests like Emma Chamberlain, Dixie D’Amelio and more—a free, mental health resource blog called The Local Optimist and most recently, The Madhappy Foundation.
The Madhappy Foundation launched this year as a nonprofit organization, supporting organizations like The Loveland and Born This Way foundations.
Now, Madhappy has launched its Summer ’22 Collection, billed as its “largest summer collection to date.” At its seasonal shop—located at 15277 Sunset boulevard in the space previously occupied by WILLIAM B + friends—Palisadians can find new silhouettes, like Madhappy’s fleece zip-up hoodie and crewneck, dresses, knit sets, swimwear, and more.
In addition to the collection, the team also created an exclusive capsule that is only available at its Palisades Village pop-up.
Madhappy currently has two other shops in Los Angeles, including The Grove and Melrose Avenue.
“Our collection was very inspired by a California summer near the ocean, and the Pacific Palisades embodies that really perfectly,” the team said to the Post. “As we were designing the collection, we immediately knew we wanted to have a presence here this summer.
“This is our first location in the Palisades, so we always look forward to welcoming a new audience into Madhappy. We set out for all of our physical spaces to be the embodiment of the brand, so we love meeting people and inviting them into our Local Optimist Group.”
Madhappy at Palisades Village is a seasonal shop with no official closing date scheduled as the Post went to print.
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