From Frustration to Foundation: The Story of Pelham in Contract Manufacturing

Pelham Insider with Oliver Felstead.

In 2012, Oliver Felstead (Pelham Founder), wasn’t planning to start a manufacturing business. He was trying to launch a haircare and skincare brand.

What he found was finding the right contract manufacturer would become a challenge, ultimately becoming the catalyst for building Pelham. 

The Problem with “Computer Says No”

As an entrepreneurial founder, Ollie was looking for a partner. What he found was process without passion in contract manufacturing.

Agility was a huge pain point. Lead times were incredibly long, and there was so much process that it felt like innovation was being starved.

Instead of genuine formulation innovation, he was offered minor tweaks to existing formulas to justify marketing claims. Instead of proactive collaboration, the approach often felt reactive: “Send us your packaging and we’ll fill it.” Ollie just really wanted to create something that genuinely worked.
Minimum order quantities were another barrier. Ollie wanted to spread investment across a small but strategic product portfolio. Instead, he faced high MOQs and sometimes struggled to even get a conversation started with manufacturers.

Coming from an industry where you had to fight hard for market share, contract manufacturing felt complacent. Ollie was also looking for a proactive, energetic partner who would bring as much passion and experience to the project as he was.

For emerging and scaling brands, the system simply wasn’t built to help them win. That’s when it became clear to him that there was an opportunity to do things differently.

The Foundation of Pelham

Pelham was born out of that frustration, but more importantly, out of a belief that contract manufacturing could be better.

Built around speed, agility, innovation, and true partnership, Ollie aimed to remove the barriers he once faced.

We’re focused on partnering with brands who share our frustrations with traditional manufacturing models and want to take a different approach. We onboard teams who are looking for more than a supplier – they want a true partner. What we offer is different: we operate as an extension of your team, aligned on long-term goals. We work collaboratively, transparently, and with shared ambition to build something better together.

It’s important that Pelham never becomes the kind of contract manufacturer that Ollie struggled to work with. No “computer says no” mindset, it’s always about finding solutions.

Leaning In Where Others Lean Out

We like operating in niches rather than mass. Whether that’s aluminium can filling or something more unusual, we get excited by the weird and wonderful. We also like to lean in where others lean out – particularly with challenging tech transfers and complex briefs. That’s where we really showcase our contract manufacturing capabilities.

Customer acquisition costs are so high for brands now that they often can’t make money on the first order. Retention is what makes them viable. That’s why we’re not okay with “good enough.” Products must be incredible. They must be efficacious and give customers a reason to come back again and again.

So, we focus not just on ingredients, but also on delivery systems and how we get ingredients to where they need to be to maximise efficacy.

We’re just getting started…

We’re incredibly passionate about what we do and excited about the opportunities ahead. We’ve built strong foundations. A robust infrastructure, an excellent operational team, and a very strong R&D team, and now it’s about continuing to build on that momentum.

We’ve invested heavily in our plant to ensure we’re commercially viable not just for smaller brands, but also as they scale. That includes investment in vessels and automation so we can support growth all the way to a significant scale.

Agile. Entrepreneurial. Solutions focused.

A fresh approach to product development. Built by someone who once struggled to find it.

Want more?

We partner with ambitious, disruptive brands ready to challenge the norm. Sound like you? Get in touch, we’d love to hear about your product.

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