Wild Thang takes another step towards International success!
Wild Thang takes another step towards International success!

Wild Thang announce their long term Irish and European expansion plans on the world famous St Patrick’s Day! We chose the perfect day to celebrate taking our next step to international success by forming our Irish company that will facilitate ease of trading and distribution between Ireland and the rest of Europe. With offices, warehousing and distribution based in Dublin and Kilkenny we can service our growing number of international clients. As part of that significant growth plan Wild Thang have become members of the British and Irish Trading Alliance to help build their customer base and supply chain worldwide.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY MERCHANDISE IN ACTION  

Andrew Dwerryhouse, Managing Director commented: “What better day to announce our long term Irish and European expansion plans than St Patrick’s Day. We already have strong and well established business relationships with some great Irish companies so it’s fantastic to finally be able to announce that we are now also an Irish trading entity”.

LEFT JOHN HOWARTH WT DIRECTOR MIDDLE PAUL WHITNELL BITA PRESIDENT RIGHT ANDREW DWERRYHOUSE WT MD

“We believe Dublin had to be our natural European base, not only because of the proximity but also the special and close trading relationship Liverpool and the Republic of Ireland has had over the centuries. It’s not a straightforward path and it’s been a challenging journey each step of the way to get to this point, but the teams hard work has paid off to now create seamless trade between the UK, Ireland, Europe and beyond”.

WILD THANG ATTENDED THE DUBLIN BITA EVENT AT THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL IN FEBRUARY

“Wild Thang have already seen significant demand for international distribution over the last few years, and now we have big growth plans for 2022 this really is another exciting piece of the puzzle that will help us meet those long term growth aspirations. We have already started to grow our network by becoming a member of the British Irish Trading Alliance in January and have recently attended our first Dublin B2B BITA event in February”.

SPECIAL & CLOSE TRADING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIVERPOOL AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

“BITA are a fantastic organisation that puts a huge amount of emphasis on facilitating building positive business relationships through friendship for the long term. I would personally like to thank Paul Whitnell who is president at BITA and has taken time out to visit Wild Thangs UK HQ, made some fantastic introductions and genuinely given us the warmest of welcomes in true Irish spirit”. “So there we are, with the luck of the Irish we will reach our growth aspirations and we’ll be enjoying the craic on the journey, as that’s The Wild Thang Way”.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY MERCHANDISE IN ACTION  

Paul Whitnell BITA President commented: “Wild Thang is a great addition to this growing eco system. Andrew’s values mirror that of the organization, Integrity, passion and delivery. Innovation and sustainable growth is at the forefront of this amazing business and we are so proud to have their total commitment to building a better future because together we are stronger”.

To find out more about BITA or get in touch with Wild Thang simply click on the below links

BITA Get In Touch

Wild Thang investing in new state of the art DTG branding machinery
Wild Thang investing in new state of the art DTG branding machinery

Wild Thang make an investment of £120K to further enhance their current DTG printing machinery and ensure they continue to strive to deliver world class products and quality to their amazing clients across the UK, and the rest of the world.

Andrew Dwerryhouse, Wild Thang MD commented: 'Even in these incredibly challenging COVID times it is important to look ahead and continue to make important investments like this that will help us deliver our long term aspirational growth plans.

Even in times of economic uncertainly its incredibly important to have that dynamic and continuous improvement mindset because we understand if you are standing still and not adapting then the writing may already be on the wall for any company.

We decided as a team in order to survive and thrive as a company that we needed to continue to invest for the future. As a company we have a one solution mindset so this really compliments Direct To Garment equipment we already have in place but increases our capacity to a much more industrial level with the very latest high quality branding technology which of course will complement our large screen-print, embroidery and heat transfer departments.

Our amazing team undertook three days of training during the installation so have further enhanced their expert DTG knowledge and we are especially excited about the GTX machines environmental credentials with printer inks are manufactured according to Brother's exclusive formulation to provide the best possible results. These DTG inks are amongst the first to not only carry the Oeko-Tex® Certification, but also to be GOTS APPROVED and CPSIA compliant* to help ensure they are safe for printing and environmentally responsible.

For those who don’t know DTG printing it stands for Direct To Garment which is the process of using a modified industrial inkjet printer to apply digital designs directly to garment, it can print any number of colours to an incredibly high resolution meaning there are no longer any boundaries to create incredibly complex designs on short runs. This is the chosen method for on demand where we produce garments as one off or small orders as they are received which is incredibly flexible. We see markets changing and have demand for people to create partnerships where they don’t want to outlay big amounts in either stock or setups so this really opens another set of doors to give our clients yet another possible solution to their branding requirements.

We decided that we wanted to make the first job off the new DTG equipment a special one so we decided to support our friends over at MaxMade who will be taking part in a social distance Santa Dash in memory of Emily Jane Gore, Emily sadly passed away earlier in the year. Their team raised an incredible £5,329 with all proceeds being donated to Willowbrook Hospice. We hope you like our little video montage & photo's to celebrate this significant DTG investment and also to help promote the great fundraising initiative MaxMade are supporting.

After an incredibly difficult year with the impact of Covid we are now focused on Wild Thang looking to 2021 with great ambition and combined with the upcoming completion of our new development we believe the sky really is the limit for dynamic sales growth."

To find out more about the new DTG branding service simple get in touch 

GET IN TOUCH

Video montage & photo’s Various DTG installation images, John Penkman Wild Thang production dept manager proudly holding the t-shirt and the Maxmade team with the cheque & wearing the t-shirts which features a picture of Emily Jane Gore, who will always be remembered.

It was a happy Valentine’s Day for Wild Thang
It was a happy Valentine’s Day for Wild Thang

It was a happy Valentine’s Day for Wild Thang.

As the completion of its major development plan and a new era with the handover of its upgraded headquarters, that dream started to become a reality on Valentine’s Day when Frank Rogers Building Contractors officially handed over the new build offices of the development.

Andrew Dwerryhouse said: “This represents a major step forward for the business and it is amazing to see this investment start to come to fruition. When you embark on a development on this scale, you take a deep breath. It’s a huge commitment in time, planning and of course monetary terms - but when you see it start to become reality, you know it is the correct decision.

We wanted to make sure we brought the right people in on this project. Myself, the Directors and our senior team care a great deal about this business so it had to be right for everyone, it’s fantastic to be able to report that all staff are already benefitting from the amazing new spaces. Central to the whole development was always to create a wonderful high quality working environment for our amazing colleagues and the really big news is that I actually had my first lunch break away from my desk in 24 years, which is quite a revelation!

Both Frank Rogers and the architects at K2 have not let us down.

They have delivered a genuinely high quality job so far, especially with the added complexity of it being undertaken while we continue to manufacture. Our eye can’t be taken off the ball just yet because we still need to complete the demolition of our old building to create the new cladding and windows around the rest of the outside and also create a completely new production configuration which is a big task in itself. The full completion of the entire development is looking like it will be towards the end of April 2020.

 

It has been an intense and challenging few months for the whole team working alongside the development while it progresses and something like this only happens through that real team ethos in every area of the business. Overseeing this project and continuing to make sure the day-to-day work of Wild Thang isn’t compromised has been a huge logistical challenge. Our team has worked brilliantly to ensure it has been business as usual.

 

Although Friday 14th February was the official handover for the project there are still some jobs that need to be completed. Another firm, Box Clever, has also been integral to the process, taking Wild Thang through the tender process and acting as the development project manager.

As a company we have enjoyed growth of around 18-20% for the past three years and are aiming for further 20-25% growth following completion of the project. The transformation of the headquarters will allow the business to significantly increase manufacturing capacity and will require a rise in headcount to meet our aspiration to be one of the leading branded clothing, merchandise and print companies inthe UK.

We are now the biggest company in this sector in the Liverpool city region and we see huge opportunities for growth in the coming months and years. This project has been three years in the planning and seeing it finally come to fruition is incredibly exciting for us all. In fact I can safely say there may have never been a more exciting time, because this is one of the biggest moments in Wild Thang’s history.” 

Main photo image is the handover image on reception stairs includes directors of Wild Thang, Box Clever & Frank Rogers

Other photo images of new offices and Wild Thang staff enjoying the new spaces

 

SHOWCASE CAMPAIGN SAINTLY MERCHANDISE FOR ST JOHN RIGBY
SHOWCASE CAMPAIGN SAINTLY MERCHANDISE FOR ST JOHN RIGBY

Wild Thang love to showcase world class campaigns full of quality & creative branding clothing, merchandise and print with plenty of innovative ideas that will help give you a little inspiration.

St John Rigby College wanted to create a unique partnership with a company that could deliver one complete solution for all its creative branded clothing, merchandise and print while meeting the very highest standards and be the best it can be helping the college project, the best possible brand image to the students, community and staff. Wild Thang created the platform to deliver across our entire range of services delivering products that were carefully planned, designed and delivered to the highest possible standard, while understanding the college’s brief of getting the very best quality within budgets and tight delivery timescales. This meant we delivered a creative solution driven approach that gave value for money. 

This involved producing a variety of products across our services which included branded varsity clothing, printed literature, promotional merchandise incentives, pullup banners, selfie boards & large format printed promotional banners plus much more. Attracting new students is one of the number one priorities for all Schools, Colleges, Academies and universities so we have supported this priority mission for St John Rigby by providing very high quality products which will engage and attract the next generation of students, which has been consistently achieved over the many years we have supplied the college and they have consistently met their targets for student intake.

It’s the Wild Thang way! Why not take a look at the one solution variety of services we provide to help you achieve that all important ROI & marketing priorities

ONE SOLUTION