Member Article

Entrepreneurial father and son duo launch Tynemouth-based ethical fashion firm

Twelve year old Marley Rhodes and dad Hugh, an entrepreneurial father and son duo from Tynemouth, have launched Marley’s Wave, an ethical fashion and lifestyle business here in the North East.

Currently seeking support to crowdfund their business campaign, the pair introduced the concept on Indiegogo on November 6 and have five more days to raise sufficient funds to grow the fledgling enterprise.

Providing ethically sourced, low impact clothing, Marley’s Wave creates surf-wear which reflects the values of the project’s creators: of kindness, compassion and authenticity.

Based on the ethos of “good heart, good soul”, they are seeking to spread positivity with their locally designed and printed t-shirts, hoodies and skateboard decks and, in the long term, to provide a sustainable alternative to high street lifestyle brands.

For Marley, taking on the project has provided him with the opportunity to develop new skills that would be harder to learn in the classroom.

With the help of his Dad, he has been a driving force for the project and can now add business planning, video production and web development to his list of skills and achievements.

Marley said: “It’s been great fun working on our business, we really like the things we are selling and it is really good when other people like them too and want to buy them”.

Likewise, developing the business has been a positive experience for Hugh, who works at Northumbria University.

He commented: “It’s been a great opportunity to work with Marley on a project we’re both passionate about, made even better by the fact I know he’ s getting great experience from it.

“He’s taken ownership of several aspects of the business, including the video on our Indegogo site, and it’s a great achievement for him. We’re both really excited to see where the project goes from here”.

The Indiegogo campaign runs until 27th November 2016. The crowdfunding page can be accessed by clicking here.