Solar Buddies, the child friendly, mess-free sunscreen applicators invented by two Gwent mums, has seen an 84 per cent uplift in sales since their appearance on Channel 4’s new series Buy It Now.

Buy it Now, presented by Brian Conley, gives Britain’s inventors, makers, and licensees the chance to sell their products in front of potential customers and buyers from major retailers.

Solar Buddies two founders Kelli Aspland and Laura Griffin said: “We’re so proud to have been chosen to appear alongside other inventors. It’s given the brand such a boost and opened doors with retailers that we never thought possible – we already have orders in place with JML, Prezzy Box and Clas Ohlson. We’ve also seen direct traffic to the Solar Buddies website increase by 84 per cent.

“We have been working on Solar Buddies for seven years and are so proud of everything that we’ve achieved, but this opportunity has really given us a step up in terms of sales and brand recognition. We have had such great feedback from retailers and consumers, which has been fantastic.”

Kelli Aspland and Laura Griffin - who have seven children between them - devised the Solar Buddies after expressing concerns about how their children were protecting themselves against the sun during school hours. They also knew that most schools had no touch policies and wanted to come up with a solution to allow children to apply sunscreen independently, and so Solar Buddies was born.

Solar Buddies has had the backing of another successful Welsh entrepreneur.

Former CEO and founder of Gocompare.com, Hayley Parsons OBE, invested in the company and has been mentoring Kelli and Laura.

Solar Buddies also had their intellectual property protected earlier this year when Kelli and Laura joined the seven per cent of other women in the UK who own a UK patent, making 2018 a very exciting year for the co-founders.