Hey! We're Meg and David, co-founders of SOAKED. We're from Manchester, a city with rain in its DNA - 152 days a year to be exact. So it was only fitting that one typical rainy day back in 2023, one of the wettest years on record, SOAKED was born.

That year, we had started to lose count of the number of broken umbrellas we saw discarded in bins across our city - our own included. It became clear umbrellas were letting us down when we needed them most.

We started researching, and discovered the most shocking statistic of all - that one billion umbrellas end up in landfill each year across the globe. Every time an umbrella snaps after being turned inside-out in the wind, gets snagged on a tree or left behind on a coffee shop floor, it adds to this never-ending cycle of waste. Living in a rainy city, we knew we'd contributed to the problem.

The research didn't end there. We also discovered most umbrellas on the market are described as ‘single use’ by manufacturers. One downpour and you're done - anything more is just a bonus. All those nights coming home with snapped spokes and soggy clothes quickly started to make sense.

Our mission is simple: create umbrellas designed to last. We do this by combining quality, resilient materials with thoughtful design - and style that makes a statement on the street.