Clair Newman, Andrew Johnston, Nicola Travis and Amy Coutts join the 8th Wonder team during a period of growth for the company.
Andrew, Clair, Nicola and Amy
8th Wonder – which specialises in the design and manufacture of character plush, wooden toys, and nursery and gift products for the global toy market – has strengthened its workforce with four new appointments, following a year of substantial growth across in the company’s licensed merchandise and own brands. The new hires expand the team to 50 people.
Clair Newman joins as merchandise manager to head up the company’s merchandise team. Clair comes with a wealth of experience, having spent over 15 years at The Very Group.
She commented: “I’m delighted with my move to 8th Wonder. It’s a fabulous company with lots of growth ambitions, so now is definitely the perfect time to join.”
Andrew Johnston also joins Clair in the merchandise function. Andrew has extensive toy experience and joins 8th Wonder from Matalan.
Nicola Travis joins as packaging manager, heading up the packaging team. Nicola joins from HTI and has over 10 years of licensing experience.
Finally, Amy Coutts joins as lead sales coordinator. Amy has 10 years’ worth of experience in toy industry and has also joined from The Very Group.
8th Wonder is now in its 23rd year as a business and ends 2020 with a total of 12 new hires, plus a raft of new licensing deals in the pipeline and successful Q4 launches. By October, the company recorded 40% growth this year and is expected to be up by nearly 70% by year end.
Senior business and product development manager, Andrea Gornall, told Toy World: “8th Wonder is expanding, giving our sales team not only a wider remit, but more opportunity to enable us to grow moving forward. Now, we are working with many different licensors, and we have launched new licensed ranges this autumn/winter, bolstering our already strong portfolio.”
“What retailers get from us is fantastic quality at a great price with strong licences in the mix,” added marketing director, Louise Tyrer. “We are excited to launch key brands and see the growth moving forward into some of the other new licences we have signed up – bring on 2021.”
Look out for an interview with Andrea and Louise, discussing the company’s expansion plans moving forward, in the upcoming December edition of Toy World.
For enquiries and more information on 8th Wonder’s product ranges, readers can call 01942 829 811 or visit www.8thwonder.co.uk.
