Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, Cuddledry was founded by Somerset-based mums Helen Wooldridge and Polly Marsh.

Launching with their now multi award-winning Cuddledry baby bath towel, the range now includes the Cuddledry towel in a variety of colourways, toddler and child bamboo dress-up towels, and a selection of cleverly designed accessories for bath, swim and travel. They told Nursery Online what prompted them to create their best-selling product and set up the business in the first place:

“We realised what a struggle bathtime can be – and that we were not alone in finding it difficult! We wanted to create a product that stopped parents struggling to safely lift their baby from the bath whilst also being ready with a warm towel – and also to stop parents getting soaked!”

What sets Cuddledry apart from its competitors?

“Quality – and care. The Cuddledry Handsfree baby bath towel has always been made to a very high standard with stringent testing, but also with great care and pride. We use materials and processes that are as sustainable and ethical as possible at every stage, and we use super soft, finest quality towelling so it is perfect for baby skin. The design of our handsfree towel has genuinely made life with a new baby easier for hundreds of thousands of parents – including our two layer towelling system which keeps babies properly warm and hence happier!

Our whole range of products adheres to these values, and we contribute a percentage of every sale to support the 2 Minute Foundation, helping clean up our oceans and waterways.”

What 3 words would you use to describe Cuddledry?

“Quality, ethical and fun.”

Why should a retailer stock Cuddledry products?

“Cuddledry has been established for 15 years now – our brand is well known, trusted and genuinely loved by parents.  Safe, simple and snug! Our towels and other goodies are known as being part of what you need for a new baby, or as wonderful gifts.  Our marketing is strong and retailers benefit from that too – tons of fabulous influencers and celebs love their Cuddledry towels – Stacey Solomon, Mrs Hinch, Paloma Faith and many more.”

Which baby/nursery products do you wish you’d invented – and why?

 “The Flexibath – by Stokke – such a great idea and would fit in beautifully with our range!

The Rockit – would have given us a lot more relaxation and rest when our babies were little

Ewan the Dream Sheep – for the same reasons as the Rockit!”

You appeared on Dragon’s Den – tell us a bit more about the experience and why you turned down the investment

“We had three offers of investment in total (one was not televised) – but we felt the percentages they were asking for were too high. It was very early on in our business journey but we were already selling through Mothercare and John Lewis were about to range our Cuddledry handsfree towels, so we felt we just didn’t want to give so much away. Who knows whether our journey would have been very different if we had said yes?! We were also both mums to tiny babies at the time (in fact Polly was heavily pregnant when we were filmed) and we were unsure how much control we would be prepared to give up – so I think we were both relieved by our decision.”

Can you share any specific plans or developments for Cuddledry for the year ahead?

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for us as we are expanding our gift range with beautiful new items for pregnant mamas and new parents, so that we have products for customers to purchase alongside the Cuddledry handsfree towel they buy for a new baby.

We are also adding a gorgeous new penguin design to our bestselling toddler/children’s bamboo towel range – in response to demand.”

Contact details for retailers to find out more:

• Website Cuddledry.com
• Email address helen@cuddledry.com
• Facebook: Cuddledryuk
• Tiktok: Cuddledry
• Instagram: cuddledry