About BuddyBrands
The Lazy Genius
Our journey began in 2012 with a dash of laziness and a stroke of genius. ✨ Fed up with cleaning his dirty football boots, 11-year-old Aaron created a DIY boot cleaner from a water bottle, plastic knife, and washing-up brush. His older brother Gaz, initially skeptical, later recognized the brilliance of Aaron's idea. Together, they refined the concept and created the first fully-functional (and fully-patented, thanks Mum 😅) BootBuddy®.
Dragons' Den Drama
Our big break came in 2016 on BBC’s Dragon’s Den. 🐉 After getting grilled by the Dragons, we secured investment and mentorship that catapulted BootBuddy® into the spotlight. By 2018, our design also earned the prestigious Horner Award for design and innovation. 🏆 These milestones accelerated our growth, solidifying BootBuddy®'s reputation as a game-changer in the shoe-care industry—and giving us many sleepless nights as a result (thanks for that). 😴
Family Focus
As a family-run business (don’t forget the middle sister! 💁♀️), we’re always striving to do more. We’ve expanded our product range to keep all your footwear in top condition—from football and hiking boots to running shoes and everyday trainers. Our commitment to innovation means developing versatile, sustainable cleaning solutions that make life easier—so you can spend less time cleaning, and more time living. 🌍
Beyond BootBuddy
From muddy boots and fresh trainers to dirty paws and greasy grills, BuddyBrands is built around making life's messy moments easier to manage. With BootBuddy, SneakerBuddy, PawBuddy, and SizzleBuddy, we've created practical cleaning solutions for active lifestyles, busy households, and everything in between. 🏃♀️👟🐶🔥
Company Timeline
2012: Aaron, frustrated with cleaning his dirty boots, exclaims, "I just can’t be arsed to clean 'em." Looking to be done with the task as quickly as possible, he accidentally invents the first prototype BootBuddy® - using a plastic knife, water bottle, and a dishwashing brush. He presents it to the family with a proud grin - and we collectively ignore him.
2013: Aaron continues to iterate on his ‘prototype’ - the family continues to ignore him.
2014: The product begins to take shape and the family gets onboard with the idea at last. Aaron’s persistence pays off as his rudimentary boot cleaner gains the approval of parents at various youth sports training grounds. We create a professional grade 3D prototype to gather further feedback. Parents love the product, citing it as a huge timesaver - so we push forward with a patent.
2015: We attend our first-ever trade show. Despite our inexperience, the product is well-received. We achieve £100k in sales and sell 5,000 units in just 5 weeks! Don't tell Aaron!
2016: Invited to Dragons’ Den, Aaron becomes the youngest entrepreneur to receive backing, securing support from Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, and Peter Jones. We also launch into the biggest sports retailer in the UK. BootBuddy is thrust into the spotlight!
2018: We win the Horner’s Award for design and innovation.
2019: We launch PawBuddy to clean the paws of our furry friends, because we prefer them to people tbh but dogs don't wear shoes!
2021: We launch SizzleBuddy for cleaning BBQ grills, drawing from our families history working in Fish & Chip shops. It quickly becomes one of the best-selling BBQ cleaning brushes in the UK.
2022: We introduce interchangeable heads for BootBuddy®. Recognizing our customers need for versatile attachments that cater to different shoe types and activities.
2024: We launch our first-ever BootBuddy made from recycled plastic, because every little helps!
Today: We are a household name and trusted supplier of all things essential to shoe-care, winning awards for design and innovation and continuously growing our brand across adjacent categories.