November 21st, 2025
When I spoke with Fliss Newland, founder of Wild Thingz, the conversation revealed more than just a new sweet brand. It revealed a vision of how everyday treats can carry purpose, play and integrity all at once.
Breaking out of the big-company mold
Having left a large corporation may have been “liberating,” but it also meant “changing a lot.” As Fliss described, “In a large organisation, there’s a process for everything… decisions move slowly, creativity can get diluted and innovation often has to pass through ten layers of approval.” At Wild Thingz she has built the opposite: a lean, agile team that moves at the speed of instinct, where exciting ideas are tried now, not six months later. It’s a structural change, fewer hoops, more jumping. It is a cultural change too: purpose, play and authenticity take priority over hierarchy and protocol.
Fliss’s move into confectionery came from more than professional ambition. Her love of sweets, colour and chaos collided with years inside an industry she felt was “broken” in relying on artificial ingredients and marketing spin. Becoming an aunt sharpened her perspective, inviting empathy into the parent-child moment of sweets, that mix of joy and guilt. Wild Thingz was born from that tension: how to give kids that thrill of sweets, while giving parents a product they can trust.
The craft behind the chaos is real. Wild Thingz gummies are organic, plant-based, free from artificial colours, flavours or animal gelatine, ingredients that many conventional treats rely on. They use half the sugar of the UK’s six leading sweet brands and getting taste, texture and quality right in that environment takes persistence: “It’s no good offering the healthy, organic and vegan option if it doesn’t taste great as the bottom line.” Fliss’s words remind us that sustainability can and should be the baseline for experience.
A sweeter kind of rebellion
Wild Thingz embraces mischief, from lemon maggots to cherry spiders to blackcurrant ladybirds, with packaging that shouts “fun” but hides nothing in the fine print. Every claim is supported by ingredient transparency: “No artificials. No apologies.” Their mantra, “Less junk. More punk,” isn’t just catchy, it’s meaningful. It signals to kids the thrill of play and to parents the reassurance of ingredient integrity.
Fliss doesn’t believe the sweets industry has served its consumers well. She sees a long-neglected responsibility – “Kids deserve joy, and parents deserve transparency,” she says. Wild Thingz steps into that gap showing that you can make something fun, bold and delicious, without compromising what’s inside the bag. Distribution milestones reflect that mission: listings in major organic-focused retailers and a UK expansion that’s moving fast.
Looking ahead – keeping the punk alive
Growth carries risk: the risk of losing soul, of diluting purpose. For Wild Thingz the challenge is clear: scaling without taming. Fliss keeps one filter on every decision: “Does this feel Wild Thingz?” If it lacks spark, they don’t do it. Innovation and expansion don’t mean “less wild” but “wilder, louder, more meaningful.”
The ripple effect
What would it mean if everyday products, like sweets, were designed not just for consumption, but for care? Wild Thingz asks us to imagine that parents and kids can share joy without compromise, that design and delight don’t exclude responsibility. It invites businesses to choose: faster growth or deeper purpose. It asks consumers: When you buy a treat, what are you really choosing?
Written by Robert Williams, Illustrated by Jessica Marwood.
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