Spinning a yarn of eco-packaging, with Angela Morris

In our enlightening conversation, Angela:

• Describes how wool is an effective insulating material, holding food and pharmaceutical items for up to five days with no further outside cooling required, and goes into detail about the manufacturing process.

• Talks about the scale of the business – c70 staff and a turnover of several million, with more companies’ consideration of sustainability driving a move towards wool packaging.

• Explains why, overall, Woolcool®’s packaging is competitively priced compared to polystyrene, and actually significantly cheaper for the pharmaceutical industry to use.

• Comments on the changing attitudes of the pharmaceutical industry towards packaging, and how her extensive experience in the packaging industry sparked her experimentation with wool.

• Identifies the key milestones at the start of Woolcool®’s success, as Abel & Cole then others started moving across to greener packaging.

• Expands on her experiences in the company’s first few years and how, after working on her own, she took on a business partner with complementary skills, (whom she later married!).

• Mentions the Innovation UK award, and how important the resulting funding was.

• Details Woolcool®’s business development through the early-mid 2010, which included two of her daughters joining the business.

• Shares anecdotes from the now King Charles’s visit, a keen wool enthusiast, after Woolcool® received The Queen’s Award in 2018.

• Observes that, because their brand is so strong, and their knowledge so significant, it makes it more difficult for potential competitors.

• Talks about the B Corp process and the tangible benefits of being B Corp certified.

• Focuses on her future aspirations for the business and her desire to give back to their local area, Stone and Stoke-on-Trent.

Highlights some key learnings, including how believing in yourself can help in difficult moments, and the importance of having investors that are on the same page as you.