13. Dock & Bay

Founders: Andy Jefferies and Ben Muller
Founded: 2015
Website: www.dockandbay.com

Let’s face it, towels are pretty dull – they dry you and they’re great for lying on at the beach, but they’ve never been very exciting. That is, until Dock & Bay came along. They’ve shaken up towel racks across the nation with a quick-dry stripey towel that comes in (almost) all the colours of the rainbow. Suddenly the humble towel was, dare I say it, almost cool?

An appearance on Dragons’ Den quickly followed, with the fledgling Dock & Bay securing a £75,000 investment from Deborah Meaden in return for a 10% stake in the business.

Since then, Dock & Bay has been busy launching a load of new products: hooded towels, hair towels, cooling towels for the gym, and swim shorts – all packed with the trademark flair for colourful, eye catching designs.

The stripey towels have not just flown off the ‘virtual’ shelves of the Dock & Bay website (which is pretty snazzy itself), but they are also stocked in high street stores like John Lewis, Selfridges, and Oliver Bonas. Dock & Bay has sold nearly 1 million quick-dry towels worldwide.

Now, Dock & Bay is working to help the planet – over the next 12 months it will move towards making all of its products from 100% recycled plastic bottles, and, in March 2020, it began giving 5% of its profits to eco charities (this year it’s One Tree Planted and Whale & Dolphin Conservation).

Having conquered the world of towels, we can’t wait to see what’s next from this cheeky, fun-filled brand.