Ross Padgett

Getting Started

Ross Padgett was inspired to create his Dinosuits by his work as a teacher. “One of the things I enjoyed the most was making engaging educational resources for my lessons, many of which students and parents loved,” he says.

“I decided I wanted to bring toys with genuine values, including sustainability and education, to a wider audience than just the schools in which I taught.”

Ross listened to a lot of feedback throughout the development stages of his wearable toys, which he sees as key to how well they’ve been received. “Critical input from young minds has produced a really fun and successful set of toys,” he believes. 

Support

Ross says of the help he’s received: “I am so grateful for all of the support that I have had over the last 2 years and GrowBiz have been outstanding all of the way.

“I am being asked by some big brands to create toys for their well-known characters, which is amazing. Recently I was proud to be asked to present to the British Library at their inventors club and received praise from many talented people who have achieved so much more than I have.

“Also the camaraderie within the industry during the pandemic has been heart-warming, with everyone supporting each other to make it through the hard times.”

Looking to the future

Ross would love to be able to grow his company to be able to produce more educational toys with designs he has already created and ones he is developing.

He also says:” As things are expanding so quickly, the workload is stepping up fast and I do miss having a good team around me. It will be nice to get more time to create so if I can get to the stage of bringing in some assistance, that would be great as it would free up time for me to develop new product ideas.” 

Ross has enjoyed running his toy business, but he says it’s been quite the learning curve. “Like all business owners, the constant juggling requires you to be a master of all things.. or at least try to be!” 

But he encourages wannabe entrepreneurs to “Find your roar, take big steps and always remember — ‘Life finds a way…’ ”

And when it’s time to relax, you can always dress up as a dinosaur, as Ross says he does! Get your suit here: https://www.dinosuit.co.uk/