Help us save DR ZIGS!
Our award-winning eco-toy manufacturing company is facing eviction.
Glan Gwna estates, our landlord at the Vaynol, has given us two weeks' notice to vacate the premises.
There are 11 jobs at risk. Our business home in North Wales. Our manufacturing unit. All our work within the community. All our work with refugees.
And it’s coming up to Christmas.
If we are to survive we need your help!
Please sign our petition to save Dr Zigs!
We will be facing huge costs in relocation and legal fees alone.
If you could share posts about our toys, share our story, tweet, make reels, and make TikToks it would be AMAZING. Help our story go viral. If you know of a local shop - however small or large - ask them to stock us. If you’re gifting to family think of our toys. If we can get the orders coming in, we can ship them and if we can do this, we can keep afloat.
We need new premises. Do you know of any North Wales local, suitable, affordable warehouse with an office?
We need to rehome our storage and base for our work with refugees - we need a space in North Wales for furniture and clothes that are donated by the community to support our refugee arrivals - do you know of anywhere?
I am really not sure if we will be able to pull through or if we will be able to continue manufacturing. But I do know that we are not alone, that Dr Zigs is loved and that we have the force of YOU behind us, and for that I am so very grateful.
If you can help please get in touch via mail@drzigs.com or DM us through our social media channels.
Read more below or find daily updates on TikTok and LinkedIn.
Eviction Diary - Day One
Launching our petition - we need more time #SaveDrZigs
I’ll be publishing updates on our story as we go, and try and keep you all updated.
I can’t tell you how moved I am by the love and support that we’re getting from you all across the continents. Dr Zigs IS YOU and see your messages, your emails, and to hear your voices - it means the world.
We’ve just launched a petition on Change.org. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s not about blame. We simply cannot move a whole manufacturing unit in two weeks. We need more time.
Please do sign, and please share
Diolch, Thank you,
Paola
- On my way to work, I drove under a rainbow.
#SaveDrZigs #BubblesNotBombs #DavidandGoliath #BritishManufacturing #womeninbusiness #petition #ecotoys #sustainablebusiness
Eviction Diary - Day Two
(For those of you just reading this two days ago I was given just two weeks to vacate our Dr Zigs Bubble Factory... This is my diary. I’m also posting video diaries to TikTok if you would like to follow)
Today has been busy. As if I wasn’t busy before all this started - I guess it’s one of those things - you fit the work into the available time - although actually a lot of jobs have also simply had to take a back seat. I wonder when I will get to them.
The sun shone today. Simple things make a huge difference to my mood and point of view, things seem more possible
The outpouring of support across all channels keeps flooding in and keeps moving me, pushing us forward and validating our work. We mean so much to so many people. It’s incredibly humbling to see how a toy, how Dr Zigs, how Bubbles have become something that matters.
Today I’ve even had offers of space for free. People have called to offer me back rooms, fields, containers, and huge vast hangars.
I have started viewing the most realistic potential spaces, each one so far ‘nearly’ possible, each with its own challenges - financial, size, and location. So many things to take into consideration. I want to do this move one time, it has to be right. Suddenly I’m having to make strategic decisions about business growth and direction condensed into blips of time. Things that I had planned for months and years ahead suddenly need to be front and centre to guide our next move.
It’s a great experience in many ways and a great exercise. Yet it comes with a huge amount of pressure, and potential for getting it wrong. And I would rather I was given more than two weeks!
Whilst all this is happening, we’re trying to judge manufacturing planning, purchasing, shipping... How do I plan for spring deliveries? What about our new product launches?
There is simply no way we can shut shop, move, and continue to work in a two-week window - we don’t even know where we’re going. We have to have more time.
I’m still waiting to have a lawyer appointed. We have an article going out in the local press and hopefully, more soon. It does help. Our petition is nearly at 400 signatures (please please do sign and share) in 24hrs? I’m losing track of time and days. It’s only day two and feels like it’s been a week, a year.
Today there were also ‘normal’ run-of-the-mill Dr Zigs happenings. We made a video for a presentation that I had promised a company three days ago; we tested a new mix (the image below); I had news that a parcel of Bubbles heading to Ukraine, to Bucha, reached the first leg of its journey. We also had a great meeting with Goodwill (look them up - they’re incredible) in Illinois. Hopefully, an exciting collaboration is in the works. It does frustrate me how much this eviction is taking me from my day-to-day stuff, but hey, at least there IS good stuff still happening.
And today’s highlight - hugs!! Thank goodness they are allowed again! Some of our AMAZING Pobl i Bobl team (local refugee charity) came by to start clearing the refugee stuff from the barn and I got the best of cwtches (a cwtch is like a hug in Welsh, but somehow better), and a good old friend from the Bubble world stopped by. I was enveloped in hugs.
And to all of you who keep up the sharing and the support - feel yourself virtually hugged. The biggest warmest of bear hugs. From me to you with love.
How can you help:
Sign our petition to give us more time https://chng.it/8hDnzFty
Buy our Bubbles! All this is having an important financial impact. Every single purchase of our Dr Zigs toys seriously helps. If not for you, do please consider donating them - you can buy them to share with your local hospice, children’s ward, or care home, just let us know where to ship them.
Thank you, Diolch xxxx
#drzigs #toyindustry #britishmanufacturing #ecotoys #sustainabletoys #madeinbritain #womeninmanufacturing #bubbles
Eviction Diary - Day Three
Today has been oscillating between being a rabbit in the headlights, tears, and a sprinkling of roaring lion rage. We will not go lying down.
In the space of two days, our petition has got to 500+ signatures. It’s just so moving.
How dare they think that this is reasonable?
Eviction Diary - Day Four
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6994625641962729472/
THIS is a great reminder of the amazing things we're doing Dr Zigs and why we need to keep going.
Today I've been pretty stressed, but oh wow is this video a joy to see - I'm SO PROUD to be a UK #ExportChampion
Stuff bullying landlords!
Aren't those Bubbles just beautiful?
If you can please please keep signing and sharing our petition to buy us more time: https://chng.it/8hDnzFty
And please BUY BUBBLES!!! Or share this with someone who you think should stock us.
Thank you, Diolch, Paola x
Eviction Day Five - Mindful Monday
Thank goodness for Bubbles. I don’t think I would be able to cope with the stress of these last few days without Bubbles. They have always been my ‘therapy’, but with everything going on, my daily Bubble sessions are more important than ever.
I know there are so many people out there as well going through crazy stresses at the moment too.
If you can take ten minutes and step outside, and just watch the Bubbles float by, I know that it will make a huge difference to your day too.
Bubble, and breathe…
#mindfulmonday #bubbletherapy #drzigs #BubblesNotBombs #ecotoys #notjustforkids
Sign Our Petition To Save Dr Zigs!
Find daily updates on TikTok and LinkedIn.
