How we've helped Doris and Dude
Business overview
James Taylor is the surf ‘dude’ in Doris and Dude. Starting seven years ago, the name came from hanging out doing fun stuff. Now James has a family he has expanded the range to include different types of socks for kids and bigger feet!
The kick start for the business idea was to take the comfort of bamboo socks and make them bold and fun.
“I had some bamboo socks, they were really comfortable, but just a bit boring and I thought well I can design something a bit brighter, that’s essentially how it started”
Sustainability of the products is a key mission. The socks are created with a mix of bamboo, organic cotton and recycled polyester. On his website James promotes how to reuse and recycle old fabrics.
The initial designs were eye catching patterns, but it was the animal socks that were a hit with customers.
“I started doing sheep about five years ago, then seagulls and puffins and all sorts of random animals in bright colours, it’s just great fun”
Their aim is to help you, not tell you what to do, but just give you some direction and point you in different directions so you can work it out for yourself
How we helped
Doris and Dude’s trading is almost exclusively wholesale, so James’s target was to expand into new markets in New Zealand, America and Canada. He has been working on improving his website to enable him to control his stock levels and handle more traffic. He has also invested in developing the site SEO and marketing.
“My advice to other business owners is that having a review with someone who has got knowledge of other businesses that do things a bit differently to you. They will come in with different ideas and ways of doing things. It prompts you to think ‘oh yeah that sounds interesting’ or ‘I’m spending way too much time on this’ and I need to work on other areas of my business”
“It wasn’t just about the Growth Hub helping me, it was about Cornwall helping me. I was able to work with a company and get some really good advice and financial help to really allow me to grow my brand”
The Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub from May 2016 - June 2023 was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and match funded by Cornwall Council, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. The project received £2,848,591.49 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
| Business name | Doris and Dude |
|---|---|
| Website | https://dorisanddude.com/ |
| Contact number | 07751 371084 |
| Contact email | [email protected] |
