Wild Thang, a leader in the creative branded clothing, merchandise, and print industry, with their HQ and world class production facilities located in Liverpool, UK along with offices in Dublin Ireland and New Jersey US, officially announced on Monday 8th September, that it is now a Certified B Corporation, joining a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact.
B Corp Certification is a rigorous and comprehensive process that evaluates a company’s impact on its workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. Wild Thang say that it is one of the company’s biggest milestone moments in their near 30-year history and they are now on a mission: “To deliver one world-class solution that elevates creative branded clothing, merchandise, and print through more sustainable practices and ethical production, ‘The Wild Thang Way’”.
As a Certified B Corporation in the branded merchandise, clothing, and print industry, Wild Thang is now counted among businesses that are helping to lead a global movement toward an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. The B Corp certification process, overseen by the nonprofit organisation B Lab, evaluates a company’s entire social and environmental performance, from supply chain practices to employee welfare and governance.
Established in 1996 with the support of a small loan from The Kings Trust (formally The Prince’s Trust) Wild Thang are proud of their humble beginning, to now become an industry leading company and one of the biggest in their sector, boasting over 400 years of combined experience across there multi award-winning 50+team.
Wild Thang has grown into a creative force within the industry, delivering one world-class solution for creative branded clothing, merchandise, and print both in the UK and internationally. They say the company has built a reputation as a trusted branding supply partner for brands around the globe, backed by world-class in-house production facilities and a deep-rooted commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainability. Becoming B Corp Certified builds on decades of work and formally recognises its unwavering commitment to positive social and environmental change. There are currently over 5 million registered businesses in the UK, and of these, Wild Thang are now one of only 2,640 B-Corps, which they think puts this achievement into real perspective.
Making sustainability a cornerstone of the company’s approach, Wild Thang has now placed ESG at the heart of its culture and operations and say they are proud to be a trusted branding supply partner that protects clients brand reputation and mitigates supply chain risk, while making a genuinely measurable ESG difference. Back in early 2023, they publicly launched Wild Thang’s 8-point Long-Term Sustainability Pledge at the Good Small Business Awards, with pledge 8 sharing their intent to become B Corp Certified.
A principle further reflected in its pledge was to plant trees and invest in carbon avoidance schemes for every order received and on behalf of its team. Since February 2023, they have planted nearly 65,000 trees and supported eighteen verified carbon avoidance projects, preventing the emission of over 4,500 tCO2e. That is the equivalent of 3,413 long-haul flights, 13,332 m2 of sea ice saved and over 11 million miles driven. This is just one aspect of their mission to reach Carbon Net Zero by 2030.
As part of their journey to B Corp Certification, ‘The Wild Thang Way’ ethos with its eight core standards across it, have been a central part of achieving their certification goal, forming the foundation of how they operate, collaborate, and evolve. They include: a commitment to world class delivery, the power of creativity, a positive and fun workplace culture, professionalism at every touchpoint, a strong team and family ethos, a drive for continuous improvement, there mission to deliver world class quality and standards, and a deep respect and responsibility for their people, planet, and partners. Those values are more than internal principles; they are their blueprint for building a better and brighter future for everyone.
Making it a moment
On Tuesday 9th September they had a HUGE day of celebrations at Wild Thang HQ and then an evening drinks reception at Baby Club House in Liverpool City Centre with the team, clients, partners, friends, and family.
In the morning Managing Director, Andrew Dwerryhouse, stood in front of the team and other key partners to proudly announce and literally raise the flag on becoming officially B Corp Certified. He gave sincere thanks to the Lord Mayor, the Wild Thang team and some of its partners who had supported making this moment possible! With a coffee truck on-site, the team wearing B Corp branded lower-eco impact organic t-shirts, photographs were taken and cheers made capturing this milestone moment.
The evening drinks reception celebration attendings heard from, both Andrew, and Carrie Dwerryhouse Wild Thangs ESG manager, as they gave an overview of the near 2 year journey that it has taken to become officially certified and what it means to now be a business that is focused on being a force for good.
Surrounded by their team, clients, suppliers, partners, family and friends they took time to thank everyone that has supported them and raised a glass to this very important milestone moment to make it a truly unforgettable day in Wild Thang’s 29-year history. the event highlighted both the significance of the certification and the strength of Wild Thang’s culture, values, and commitment to positive impact.
Quote from Andrew Dwerryhouse MD
” It was genuinely wonderful to finally celebrate becoming B Corp certified with our amazing team, partners and clients, it has been one of the most challenging and fulfilling journeys we have ever been on as a company, so it now officially becomes one of the biggest milestone moments in our near 30-year history. We decided to become B Corp because it was the right thing to do, it aligned perfectly with our own values and ethics. B Corp certification also happens to be the highest and hardest certification to achieve available in the UK and possibly globally relating to ESG so Internally and externally, these journeys can never happen without complete commitment, expert support and partnership. Every member of the Wild Thang family has been part of helping make this special moment happen, but especially the other directors, senior team and our ESG manager Carrie Dwerryhouse, who has been the driving force to get officially certified. All our team and partners hard work has finally paid off its not every day you can now officially say we are one of the most sustainable, certified and award winning businesses in our industry sector and we have the ability to support other companies become more sustainable by choosing Wild Thang as your trusted branding partner.”
Quote from Carrie Dwerryhouse ESG Manager
“It’s been nearly 2 years from when we announced our intention to become B Corp and 360 days refining our application to gain certification, so I was more relieved than anything that we have finally got certified. As a world-class team and industry leaders, we think it’s all about trust and every company should be asking the ‘WHY’ question and only aligning with suppliers they genuinely trust who have shared values and ethics. We know that there is still much to be done in the future, but its progress not perfection with a continuous improvement mindset, we are incredibly proud to be part of the amazing B Corp community. We can’t wait to embed ourselves into this mission and are excited to stand alongside other businesses that are a genuine force for good for both people and planet! Brabners law firm very kindly gave us some important free related legal advice. We also want to extend a special thank you to the 2030hub team, who have been a true partner, giving invaluable guidance which has helped us navigate the B Corp Certification process and has supported completing our carbon audits. Relief definitely turned into celebration at the official announcement and team celebration to see the B Corp flag being raised was and incredibly special and moving moment.”