Meet the Makers
We bring together two very different backgrounds: John in construction, having helped deliver thousands of family homes, and Kevin in physical product design, developing consumer products. But High & Dry is also the story of two families from Northern Ireland, tired of the same old problem: where do we dry the clothes without ruining the garden?
Like you, we balance work, kids, and the never-ending laundry pile. We loved the freshness of line-dried sheets, but we wanted a solution that didn't involve expensive tumble dryers or ugly rotary lines that blocked the kids’ football games.
We knew there had to be a better way - we just didn't know yet what it would look like.
Kevin, Amanda, John & Catherine
The Lightbulb Moment
The spark for High & Dry didn't happen in a boardroom. It came from seeing the same problem in real homes, again and again.
Having overseen the construction of over 3,000 homes across the UK for major housebuilders, John noticed a surprisingly common snag. New-build gardens were getting smaller, but traditional washing lines were staying big, fixed and permanent. Homeowners regularly wanted them moved or removed altogether so they could get their garden back for BBQs, kids' football and everyday family life.
There was already the seed of a solution. John's family engineering business had produced mobile washing lines for many years. John and Kevin believed that idea could be developed into something better suited to modern family life.
We Listened to You
We didn’t just guess what you wanted. We built it, tested it and took it on the road. From Dublin to Birmingham, we brought our early washing line to trade shows and spoke to thousands of you.
The feedback was remarkably consistent: you wanted to chase the sun, but you wanted the washing line to vanish the moment the BBQ started. So John and Kevin went back to the drawing board together. John's construction experience meeting Kevin's product design background, to solve the hardest part: making it properly retractable.
After years of development and refinement, we got there: a robust, portable washing line that opens to a full 185cm drying width, then folds down to just 30cm, literally the width of your old school ruler.
Trusted by the Best
What started with small batches, trade shows and conversations has grown into High & Dry today. We've now sold thousands of washing lines and we were delighted when Lakeland reached out to us and chose to stock us.
But our favourite feedback still comes from the families who tell us they've finally got their garden back.
Thank you for being part of the journey.