A businessman from Sevenoaks has seen his range of cut-price cleaning and laundry products fly off the shelves as the cost-of-living crisis sees many households turn their back on branded products

Darren Mosley runs Easy Cleaning Solutions which has been selling 25 million units annually - supplying the likes of Poundland, B&M and Home Bargains.

But output surged up to 25% in the last quarter as the big chains such as Sainsbury's started stocking his products too.

The CEO admits: "We were probably one of the household cleaning sector’s biggest players that nobody knew much about.

“But we expect to have almost doubled output and hit 50 million units a year within the next two years by expanding the product range and increasing shelf presence in all retail sectors.

“They are looking for serious own label rivals to ‘big brand’ names in our sector.”

Mr Mosley, whose factory is in Thetford, Norfolk, requiring him to spend half his week away from home, has also recently signed a deal for its Easy brand to be used by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the serial entrepreneur best known for launching the easyJet budget airline in 1995.

We expect to have almost doubled output and hit 50 million units a year within the next two years

Mr Mosley said: “When Sir Stelios’s bought our Easy brands – then with a capital ‘E’ – they were simply re-packaged to align with his other easy – with a small ‘e’ – companies. Easy products now account for around £10m of our overall £48m ECS turnover.

“The products were already in step with Sir Stelios’s easy line-up; quality, functionality and value all come first. To use a car analogy, they all get you from A to B, so do you really want to pay extra for expensive luxuries like leather seats – especially in tough times?"

ECS’s biggest selling lines are its bleach products, but Mosley is quick to dispel any suggestion that these may be ‘cheap and cheerful’ rivals to established names: “Ultimately our products are good equivalents at a lower price, but we still offer a choice of type, fragrances, and packaging formats.

“We are alert to new trends and opportunities and currently looking at outdoor cleaning products, but we will expand into any sector where we think we can literally deliver an ‘easy’ solution offering value and quality – everything Sir Stelios is about.

“We certainly have the capacity. Our plant employs 250 people, was built in the 1970s but continually upgraded, and has a filling capacity of 200 million litres a year, which leaves us room for growth even though production is currently 30% up year on year.”