Company
Our story
Hugimals World's founder Marina Khidekel is a health & wellness journalist and mental health expert who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and has lived in New York City long enough to feel like a true New Yorker. Before launching Hugimals World in the summer of 2022, Marina served as deputy editor at Women's Health and Chief Content Officer at Thrive Global, where she authored the book Your Time To Thrive, about small, simple steps that improve your mental & physical well-being.
Our cozy, anxiety-relieving products, starting with Hugimals, were born out of a personal quest, and loads of research. Marina tried weighted blankets to relieve her nighttime anxiety and racing mind, but like many others, found them too confining and difficult to travel with. She started researching weighted items and the science behind them, looking for something that could ease anxiety in anyone who loved the comforting sensation of Deep Touch Pressure but didn't want to feel smothered: from kids to adults, those who are neurotypical, neurodivergent, sensory-seeking, and everyone in between.
She couldn't find what she was looking for: a high-quality, beautifully designed, supremely soft weighted plush that was weighted enough to ease anxiety in a wide range of ages, machine washable, adorable, and made to feel like a real, comforting hug... something she'd be proud to gift to loved ones. But there was nothing like this on the market. (Most weighted plush are cheaply made with their weight clumped in one area rather than throughout, and aren't machine washable.) So, after several years of researching and prototyping, she created Hugimals and tested their efficacy through a pilot program in hospitals across the country, which confirmed Hugimals' effectiveness in providing sensory and emotional support to patients and families in a high-stress environment. With a vision for a world of high-quality comfort items to help people of all ages relieve anxiety, she launched Hugimals World.
Hugimals quickly resonated with customers of all ages, winning awards, national press coverage, and most importantly, the trust of our customers, who also responded in a big way to our first-of-their-kind Heart to Hug Pillows.
To create the best weighted products on the market, Marina puts her skills as a health and wellness editor to use. She brings in the expertise of top psychologists, occupational therapists and product designers — and listens to the needs of Hugimals World's customers — to make the most comforting, stylish, high-quality weighted comfort items you'll find.
Since launching in 2022, Hugimals World's products have been recognized in TIME's Best Inventions, Parents Best Sleep Awards, Good Housekeeping's Best Toys, and TODAY's She Made It "It List," and featured as best gifts for both kids and adults in hundreds of national press outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Goop, Travel & Leisure, Elle, InStyle, Oprah Daily, New York Magazine's The Strategist, and many more. We've earned the trust of over 100,000 customers and thousands of 5-star reviews. Marina reads and appreciates every single one. (And if you post a message on one of our social media pages, there's a good chance she's responding to you herself!)
We hope you and your loved ones love our comforting, products, each one designed and crafted with care. Thank you for supporting this small business (and our small but mighty team!) on our mission to ease the world's stress with the science-backed power of weighted hugs!
