Four and a half years of late nights, dodgy fabric samples, and asking "what the hell is GSM?" led to this moment. Nathan and Freddie stood in a two-floor space on Stoke Newington High Street, wondering if anyone would actually show up. Spoiler: they did.
11 AM: Darryl Brings The Energy
Darryl kicked things off upstairs with calisthenics. Bodies moving, pulling, pushing, the kind of workout that tests whether your leggings are actually squat-proof or if you're about to have a wardrobe malfunction in front of strangers.
Good news: the leggings held. So did the room. The energy was electric, and people were really going for it.
Downstairs, the exhibition space told the story nobody usually sees, the bit where Nathan said "the strength of 9 elephants" in the gym one day and Freddie thought "that's a brand." The bit where that first tencel sample arrived and was completely wrong, so they spent one frantic evening teaching themselves about fabric GSM. The bit where they realized making truly sustainable, biodegradable, squat-proof activewear made in the UK was borderline impossible. And then did it anyway.
2 PM: Catherine Shifts The Vibe
Catherine took over at 2 PM for yoga. The space filled up even more, mats covered the floor, and the atmosphere shifted from high-octane to something deeper. Focused. Intentional.
This is the thing about yoga: it looks calm, but it demands everything. Catherine guided the room through flows and holds, and you could feel it, people were getting it. Not just the poses, but the brand. What 9 Elephants stood for. Why it mattered.
Downstairs, more people wandered through the exhibition, reading about fabric factories, endless sampling rounds, and the small army of people (shoutout to Fredy, Marta, Lesley, James, Alexey, Jo, Fazane, Catherine) who helped make the impossible real.
5 PM: Dinush Brings It Home
Last class of the day. HIIT with Dinush. The grand finale. The room was packed. Sweaty, breathless, absolutely buzzing. This was it, the moment before the launch party, the last push before everything changed. Dinush didn't hold back, and neither did anyone else. Every lunge, every plank hold felt like proof: this brand works. This community is real.
5:45 PM: The Launch Party
When the final class wrapped, the space transformed. Friends, family, customers old and new, people who'd just sweated through Dinush's HIIT class, they all came together.
None of it would've happened without Bert and Gwenno, who'd been there from the start, setting up the space, keeping things running smoothly between classes, making sure every detail was right. The kind of support that doesn't always get the spotlight but makes everything possible.
Nathan and Freddie stood in the middle of it all, surrounded by the proof that "the strength of 9 elephants" wasn't just a phrase Nathan used to say anymore. It was a brand. A real one. Made in the UK, truly sustainable, biodegradable, squat-proof, and somehow actually happening.
The music played. Drinks flowed. People laughed, talked, tried on leggings, and asked questions about fabric (turns out people do care about GSM when you explain it properly).
Four and a half years of grinding, and now finally, here it was. Alive. Real. On the High Street in Stoke Newington on a Saturday 29th November.