Merseyside business Wild Thang provides branded materials for blue chip clients and 28 years after it was founded the family bonds underpinning its success are as strong as ever. Tony McDonough reports

 

Back in 1996 Andrew Dwerryhouse secured a £1,500 loan from the Prince’s Trust to launch a fledgling branded clothing business with school friend Mark Zajac.

And a big helping hand closer to home also played a key role in its development. Andrew’s father John, who ran a small successful engineering business, allowed them to use a room in his premises for six months rent-free.

Andrew has since repaid his faith many times over. That venture, Wild Thang, is now a multi-million pound business based in Bootle. It provides branded materials to multiple blue-chip clients including McDonald’s, Paddy Power and retail giant B&M.

Mark decided to leave to follow his dream and work on other creative industries. He now holds a senior role in global entertainment giant Sony, creating movie footage for the latest Playstation games.

Over time Wild Thang became a fully-fledged family business. John Dwerryhouse joined for a number of years before his retirement. Andrew’s brother Chris is now operations sirector, his sister Sarah sales director and brother-In-law John Howarth heads up supply chain development and key accounts.

Andrew’s wife Carrie is the ESG manager and all have been key in helping develop Wild Thang into the world class organisation it is today. Andrew says he “would not change it for the world”.

In 2019, Wild Thang embarked on an ambitious growth strategy, including a £2m expansion of its manufacturing facility and headquarters which is close to the Port of Liverpool.

This project faced a totally unexpected challenge in early 2020 when the COVID pandemic brought the world to a halt. With revenues plummeting, Wild Thang could have paused the expansion. But they ploughed on and that risk has been rewarded.

Not only has that investment paid dividends in terms of increasing capacity and winning more business, it has also seen the company expand internationally with new bases in the Republic of Ireland and New Jersey in the US.

 

 

According to Oxford Economics there are more than 4.5m family-run businesses in the UK, most of them SMEs and small traders. They account for more than 85% of all private sector businesses, employ more than 13m people and contribute more than £500bn to the economy.

Now employing more than 50 people, Wild Thang’s family ethos is as strong as ever. Sadly, John Dwerryhouse died in September 2022 but his legacy is the entrepreneurial spirit shown by Andrew, Chris, Sarah, John and Carrie.

In Q&A with NatWest to celebrate family businesses, Andrew and Chris shared their insight into “how they continue to balance growth with family values”.

They wrote: “We are a fully-fledged family business with strong values and ethics, which is why we see the rest of the Wild Thang team as our extended family.

“Our dad was an influential figure – he was a businessman and encouraged us when we had this idea to make branded clothing. He said if we renovated a room above his engineering company, we could have it rent-free for six months.

“He passed away in 2022 but he’s synonymous with this business and supported us with our ambition to dare to be different, to be OK with growing step by step.

“We were fortunate to have a supportive family. We’ve learned you can have an ambition to be world class and scale up as well as keep your family values if you have the whole team bringing their ideas to the table.”

They describe their international expansion as a “new frontier” but Wild Thang is also one of Liverpool city region’s most dynamic companies when it comes to its wider social responsibilities.

In spring 2023 the firm launched its sustainability pledge. Since unveiling its plans, it has planted 58,422 trees and saved 2,278 tonnes of CO2.

This is equivalent to the carbon emissions from 1,749 long-haul flights, saving 6,837 square metres of ice, or avoiding 5.6m miles driven by an average car. Click here for more details.

In October 2023, the business installed 290 solar panels on the roof of its headquarters. They are already providing around 80% of its energy needs. And in May it submitted its application to become a B Corp certified company.

In November 2024, Wild Thang unveiled its new website to a Liverpool business audience. This highlighted its 19-strong category product range which includes clothing, pens and stationery, drinkware, tech and gadgets, keyring and badges, bags, gift sets and confectionery and foods.

And it has also used the website to accelerate its push to net zero with multiple ‘lower carbon options’. At the launch Andrew said: “We now have more lower eco impact products than ever before. Across every category we have created that.”

The whole family recognise that achieving all of the above is only possible if they continue to run a profitable, sustainable business. But they intended to continue to do it the right way, what they call “the Wild Thang way”.

 

 

Andrew also hasn’t forgotten that it was the Prince’s Trust that provided that critical start-up funding for the business. Since Prince Charles became King Charles the organisation was rebranded The King’s Trust with the same mission to help young people.

In 2023 Andrew announced a “special full-circle moment”. Wild Thang is offering funding for the next generation of aspiring young entrepreneurs through the King’s Trust Enterprise Programme.

“We aim to provide them with the tools, resources and mentorship they need to turn their dreams into reality,” he said. “We now have the opportunity to give back to the organisation that once supported us.”

Wild Thang’s business and sustainability efforts have seen them secure multiple awards, most recently the Sustainable Business of the Year award at the Liverpool Chamber Innovation in Business Awards in late October.

Andrew added “There will always be some form of challenge, it’s about expecting that. You do build resilience over the years to find a solution or adapt. Your biggest challenge could become your biggest success.

“We’re driven to create a great future for our family and our team. We’ve built a large senior management team because we know the answer doesn’t always come from us. We plan the company vision, our values and what we’d like to achieve, and communicate it so we have everyone aligned.

“We’ve got some people who have been with us for 20 years now, we’ve been as much a part of their lives as they have ours, and the decisions we’ve made together have had some fantastic outcomes. We’re proud of that.”