Project Blu enjoyed a bumper night at the 2020 Wales Start-Up Awards.
The Dinas Powys-based company picked up the overall award, along with Global Start-Up and Green Start-Up.
It was a special night for the company’s founder, Geryn Evans, even if, due to coronavirus restrictions, it meant he was watching the awards on his sofa while his pregnant wife slept.
“There was also a slight delay, so I was looking grumpy when we announced the winners,” he said.
Since the company started trading in May 2019 Project Blu has converted six million plastic bottles into a variety of pet products.
Not bad for a business Mr Evans says he “stumbled into”.
Mr Evans founded the company with an aim to reduce global ocean-bound plastic waste, and reduce the environmental impact of pet products through a number of technologies. It is the first global pet brand to offer a full range of sustainable accessories.
The business is unique and Mr Evans says that every problem he finds they have to solve as there has been no other sustainable business like his before.
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After graduating from Bath University Mr Evans worked at Accenture for two years, before moving back to Wales to work with his family’s furniture business.
In 2016 he decided to enter the pet trade as he believed there was market growth in sustainability, and that became the key driving force behind his new product designs.
The business was also inspired by the Adidas Parley collaboration, which saw the sports giant use recycled ocean plastics. Geryn had also already designed several ‘integrated technology’ products for major retailers throughout his career in the furniture industry.
Project Blu started converting polluting materials, such as ocean-bound plastic waste, into high-quality dog beds, cat beds, leashes and toys. While the products are designed in Wales, they are made in Tuscany.
Mr Evans believes Italy is home to the finest artisans on the planet, and it is the best way to show that sustainability and style can work in harmony.
In his research he found dog beds are made of materials that are not able to be recycled. This means there are huge amounts of waste going to landfills. So the products from Project Blu are not only made from recyclable materials, they can also be recycled.
In 2018 the business was ready to launch. And since then the growth of the business has been rapid.
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At the Zoomark exhibition in Bologna in May 2019, retailers John Lewis and Joules were among the first 海角视频 lifestyle distributors to stock the revolutionary products within their petcare ranges.
And earlier this year the sustainable pet brand partnered with a global pet health and nutrition leader.
Mars Petcare invested $200,000 into the business,and the partnership gave Project Blu a jumpstart in the marketplace and direct access to experts in the pet market via the Leap Venture Studio accelerator programme.
Project Blu is making waves in the US market, and they have an office in San Diego. Just prior to the lockdown Mr Evans had been planning on spending time in the West Coast city. However, he admits sometimes his messages can get lost in translation.
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“I sometimes explain things in rugby terms, which the Americans don’t always get” he said.
“For example, I see the business as a rugby team, the makers in Italy are the forwards, while the sales and marketing are the backs doing the sexy stuff.”
And where does Mr Evans play?
“I’m the scrum-half bringing them together,” he laughs.
Geryn also likens the business to Wales in the rugby world, having a smaller pond of talent to draw upon, being the underdog, but punching above its weight.
The rate Project Blu is growing, an analogy he might be able to use soon is that of winning the World Cup.