The firm now ships more than 50 million bottles of wine a year through two businesses, Laithwaites (formerly Bordeaux Direct) and the "Sunday Times" wine club. Both operations sell wine online. Founder Tony Laithwaite first entered the wine business by importing French wines and selling them from a rented railway arch in 1969. When the "Sunday Times" in 1973 published an expos on some of the dirty tricks of the British wine trade, Laithwaite wrote to distance himself from the bad press. The letter drew 2,000 reader responses and prompted the newspaper to establish a wine club with Laithwaite's help.

Alexandra plc company makes and sells apparel, shoes, and accessories for the workplace, including the catering, medical, hospitality, transportation, and security industries. Products may be purchased through about half a dozen retail outlets in the UK, as well as by mail order and online. Alexandra also offers a bespoke service (about 50% of sales) that tailors uniforms for large corporations. While more than 90% of its sales originate in the UK and Ireland, Alexandra also does business in Holland, France, and several other countries in Europe and overseas. Alexandra sources more than 95% of its garments overseas in countries, such as Morocco, India, and in the Far East.

Hill's Pet Nutrition Company's Science Diet pet food is available through pet supply stores and veterinary professionals while its Prescription Diet products are sold only through veterinarians. The firm's cat and dog foods are produced in varieties geared to a pet's dietary requirements, medical condition, and age. Hill's also makes animal treats. Its products are sold in the US, Japan, and more than 90 other countries worldwide. This subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive was founded in 1948, after a veterinarian cooked up a special food to treat a guide dog's kidney problems.

Bradford, which has operations in the US and Mexico, was founded in 1876 to make soaps for the textile industry. The company grows its operations chiefly through acquisitions of smaller soap makers. Bradford Soap Works is far from being a dud with suds. As a top manufacturer of private-label bath soaps, the company makes soap and personal care formulations specifically for consumer products firms. Products, which include bar soaps, gels, powders, and mousses, are manufactured under names AngelSkin, Eco-Ex, OrganicChoices, Chakra, Body Buffing Grain, and Watercolors, among others. Bradford Soap also makes certified organic ingredients, as well as detergent, lubricants, and foam stabilizers for industrial use.

Tufco Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Tufco Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated manufacturing services in the United States. Its services include wet and dry-wipe converting, wide Web flexographic printing, hot melt adhesive laminating, folding, integrated downstream packaging, and on-site quality and microbiological process management. The company also custom manufactures products from an array of materials, including polyethylene films, a variety of nonwovens, paper, and tissue. Its products include disposable wet and dry wipes for home, personal/baby/medical care use, flexible packaging, and disposable table covers. In addition, the company manufactures and distributes business imaging paper products. It converts fine paper materials, including specialty and fine printing papers, thermal papers, inkjet papers, and coated products. Tufco Technologies produces various papers for use in bank proof or automated teller machines, such as fan-fold forms, and printed rolls of various sizes and types. Further, it produces a selection of standard and customized guest checks for use in the restaurant industry, as well as various multi-part business forms. . Tufco Technologies markets its products and services through its sales and customer service employees, manufacturer's representatives, and distributors.

Silgan Holdings Inc. company was founded in 1987 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Silgan Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of metal and plastic consumer goods packaging products in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Its products include steel and aluminum containers for human and pet food; and custom designed plastic containers, tubes, and closures for personal care, health care, pharmaceutical, household and industrial chemical, food, pet care, agricultural chemical, automotive, and marine chemical products. The company also offers metal, composite, and plastic vacuum closures for food and beverage products. Silgan Holdings markets its products through direct sales force and a network of distributors primarily to consumer products companies.

Teknion wants employees to get past visions of group holding pens when they walk into an open floor plan office space, and instead think about the geometric possibilities implied by desking systems, panel systems, and post-and-beam systems. The fast-growing US subsidiary of Canada's Teknion Corporation, the company distributes office furniture systems throughout the US. Products include segmented cubicles, space segregation panels, chairs, desks, and couches. Teknion sells most of its wares to contracted clients, including the GSA (General Services Administration of the US government). It also operates about 10 showrooms in major US cities.

H.H. Brown manufactures and distributes casual, work, and dress shoes and boots under more than a dozen brands, including Acme, Bøc, Børn, Brunswick, Carolina, Corcoran, Dexter, Double-H, Matterhorn, Nurse Mates, Quark, Ruhne, Sofft, and Softspots. Founded in 1883, H.H. Brown is named after Massachusetts shoemaker Henry H. Brown and is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. The company owns and sells through two Web sites (shoeline.com and supershoes.com); more than 50 of its own H.H. Brown SuperShoes stores; and through other retailers.

PETCO Animal Supplies Stores, the nation's #2 pet supply specialty retailer, is hounding PetSmart for top dog status. As the operating subsidiary of holding company PETCO Animal Supplies, it runs more than 950 stores in all 50 US states. Its 15,000-sq.-ft. superstores carry some 10,000 pet-related items, including premium cat and dog foods (Nutro, Hill's Pet Nutrition), collars, leashes, grooming items, toys, and animal habitats. Its stores also offer grooming, training, vet services, and mixed breed DNA testing, and sponsor pet adoption for cats and dogs with local animal-welfare organizations. PETCO's products are also available through its Web site. Buyout firms took PETCO private in 2006.

People's Garment manufactures fashion apparel for men and women, including sports and swimwear. Established in 1980, the company produces clothing for sale under such global brand names as Arrow, Lacoste, BSC, Primo Linea, Arena, Streamline, and Elle. People's Garment also makes several kinds of woven and knit fabrics from a handful of factories. The company distributes its products through ICC International (of which it owns a portion), trading firms, and directly to customers in the US, Europe, and Asia.

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