About Us: An Important Announcement

Hey everyone, it's Sonia, co-owner of Henkaa here and I have an announcement to make about the future of Henkaa.

What we're doing, what I'm about to do, might not be what others would do but it's what feels to me. And we've always done things a little differently here at Henkaa. So why change now, right?

To give you a little context of where we're headed though, I’m going to start off with how we got here.

Our late founder, Jo, wore her first convertible dress to my wedding as a guest. Someone at her table was wearing a one-shoulder purple dress, just like her. But instead of being upset about it, she did something different, because her dress was actually different. Jo said, BRB, went to the washroom and re-wrapped her dress into a high-neck halter, so a completely different neckline and look.

So, two minutes was all it took to show all the possibilities - the flexibility and ease that a convertible dress can create in someone's life and it was enough to prompt a woman who was in the washroom with Jo to ask her where she could get one!

A couple of years later, when I went through my first pregnancy, I was staring at a pile of clothes on the floor that no longer fit me and everything was out of style. I only kept a few stretchy pants, oversized t-shirts and my OG Periwinkle Blue Henkaa dress.

I was pretty upset about all the Fashion waste I had created and I wasn't happy about my body not fitting into 99% of my clothes.

And that’s when it hit me. The magic of Henkaa wasn't just that I could change my dress, my style of dress, for different events or that it could have flexibility on the fly. I mean, that's already a lot more than I can ask out of most of my clothes, but there's more because Henkaa could also adapt to my changing body and it was a way for me to tread more lightly on the environment which is really important to me.

So, ultimately that helps me, and it also helps you, have more time to live our best lives, to find joy in the everyday and to feel good when we're creating memories that we want to last a lifetime and also help us help people around us do the same.

I'm really confident in saying that we continue to serve our community now as we intended more than 10 years ago. We're not like other clothing brands and we're really proud of that.

And this company has changed a lot over the last few years, just as the world has. You know, in a world of fast fashion, where fast fashion is the norm and we're all bombarded with ideal body images, it just feels like we need to be something we're not in order to succeed. And I'm just really not down with that. You know, as a company we need to figure out how we can be viable and still focus on what is most important to us.

So this is the announcement: what we're doing is taking some time to re-evaluate our mission and our focus. The online store will be closed this summer until further notice. I know you probably have a lot of questions and I'll be here to answer them to the best of my ability.

I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't have all the answers right now and in terms of where we're headed, whether, you know, whether we'll still have a certain colour or, you know, when new stock will arrive. I just know that I wanted to speak from my heart and let you know what's going to happen in the next few months.

And, you know, to tell you the truth, I have been…we as a company, and I have been feeling stuck. You know, it wasn't easy to lose Jo and it wasn't easy to get through the pandemic. We've been surviving, but not thriving.

So, I don't want to take too much of your time and I want to, you know, reiterate.

If you're just joining us, we are closing the online store until further notice as of June 21st - that'll be the last day that you can order.

There are three things that you need to know. The top three things that you need to know are:

The last day to order is June 21st. So if you have an event that you're planning for 2023 or 2024, we still want to be there for you as much as possible. So we encourage you to get your dresses and accessories now because stock will not be replenished until further notice. All orders will ship by June 30th and then if you have any questions after you receive your orders, we will still be available by email.

And the second thing that you need to know is that we do have some events lined up in person, pop-up shops. If you want to try on dresses, just take a look at our events page on the website. You can also email us to ask us questions about the in person events. I would still love to meet you and show you the magic of Henkaa and to have something for your next event. And again, you can find that on the website.

The third thing is, we really appreciate you being on this journey with us and on our mailing list. And if you're not on our mailing list, I encourage you to get onto our mailing list. We'll have more information and our email community will be the first to know about the direction that we're going to be taking and what our future looks like. As a community you've always been really supportive of us and you have any questions or feedback, reach out to us by email.

Know that this was not an easy decision for me, but for the health of the company and my own mental, physical, and spiritual health, I need to take this time to determine our next steps. To be clear, I have every intention to return.

I know somebody asked if it's the last chance to buy Henkaa and it’s your last chance for now until June 21st - we will not be replenishing our stock until further notice. I do have an intention to return and our values remain the same. However, the way we show up what and how we offer it may look different.

I'm taking this time because I know that we can make a bigger impact, that we can serve the community better, that we can do more to reduce fashion waste and to advocate for more body positivity. Those things are really important to us and we want to be able to make things work and not change who we are to try to fit into everything that's going on in the world. We want to make a difference.

So, thank you for listening and for understanding, for your love and support. That was a lot of information, and we're going to create a transcript of this video so you can read on the website. We'll have a TLDR version as well so that the most important information will be out there.

Thank you so much for being here and for all your comments. And if you have any questions again just reach out you can email us at info@henkaa.com or you can DM us.

I’ll also pop on to answer questions and be as transparent as I can. So thank you again and I hope that if you're in the Toronto area, you’re enjoying this wonderful weather and getting outside. Have a great weekend.

Thank you everybody. Bye.

Wednesday June 21st 2023

Our team is striving to process orders within 3-5 business days. However, due to an increase in demand, there may be delays. If you require your order sooner, we suggest upgrading to FedEx Overnight or Priority services. Please note that all online orders will be shipped no later than Wednesday, June 30th, 2023. For additional shipping information, please visit our shipping page.

At this time, we are temporarily closing the online store.

To stay up to date on the next chapter of Henkaa, join our mailing list

We will! To address any of your inquiries and order related questions, we are continuing to provide customer service support after June 21st. Contact us via our website chat or email

Yes, we are still able to process returns and refunds after June 21st. Our regular Return Policy still applies. Please contact customer service with your request via email

While we are disabling the ability to complete purchases after June 21st, our website will still be operational. Access to our blogs and YouTube channel will remain unaffected, and all of our videos will still be available to the public.