The story of our cuddly octopus toy

If you're an Octoplus rewards member you can use your Octopoints to purchase a toy or other merchandise in the shop! The best part? We will double the value of your points (so if you have £2 of points we will convert this to £4 of credit in the shop!)

If you're not an Octoplus member you can head to the shop and purchase with cash!

All the profits will be going to our Octoassist fund this winter to give even more support to the customers who need an extra helping hand, find out all that we're doing to support customers this winter.

The very first octopus toys were hand sewn by a small toy company in Wales. They were dotted around the office and so beloved by our team, and eagle-eyed customers that we decided to create some larger cuddly friends to keep them company! Our team quickly developed quite a soft-spot for our cuddly eight legged friends. You’ll find them all over the office now too, which can sometimes end up looking a bit like Octopolis - a real-life underwater octopus city!?

We stopped giving Constantines to customers for free when the energy crisis hit, so we could put the money towards support schemes to help our most vulnerable: electric blankets, thermal cameras to spot heat loss, and our £30m Octo Assist fund.

Customers have been incredibly understanding about that. Many even asked for a way they themselves could support their fellow customers through Octo Assist. That got us thinking; there should be a way for people to do both – and now, Constantine finds a new home on the shoptopus.

Constantines are ethically made from 100% recycled fabric and filling. Profits go straight to our Octo Assist fund (the small amount we’d have made on top of production and shipping costs). Customers in our rewards scheme Octoplus can even shop all merch at half the price with their Octopoints.

We’ll also start doing regular shoptopus giveaways on social media so there’s still a way to get your hands on a free plushie – follow us and keep your eyes peeled.

We know ‘buy a toy’ is never quite as good as ‘get one for free’. As we get bigger, this is our way of spreading the joy of Constantine whilst using our funds sustainably, and directing support where it’s most needed.

You can read more about how we're helping here.

If you're an Octoplus rewards member you can use your Octopoints to purchase a toy or other merchandise in the shop! The best part? We will double the value of your points (so if you have £2 of points we will convert this to £4 of credit in the shop!)

If you're not an Octoplus member you can head to the shop and purchase with cash!

All the profits will be going to our Octoassist fund this winter to give even more support to the customers who need an extra helping hand, find out all that we're doing to support customers this winter.

Our plushy friends started off as teeny tiny babies, handmade in Wales, but as our customer base grew and grew and grew, so did our Octopuses. They are now carefully (and ethically) crafted by a team of octopus-making experts in China and we have a multitude of Octopus toys of all sizes.

Our head of front-end development Ashley named our fluffy octopus Constantine. He was channelling the kind of octopus he hoped Constantine would be: a bringer of change like Constantine the Great, Emperor of Rome, and a clear, transparent communicator like John Constantine – Keanu Reeves' demon-channelling lead in the occult detective classic of the same name.

Or, he just liked the name. We wouldn’t want to read into it too much…

We have ensured the octopus-making process is ethical for our workers, 100% compliant with toy-making regulations and all Octopus toys bought from our manufacturer since summer 2021 have been made with 100% recycled fabric and stuffing. So, you can rest assured that your octopus has started life in the best way possible!

We're working on a Kelp research project in the UK with the ambition to influence wider environmental projects to restore and look after kelp habitats (cuttlefish and octopus live in kelp!)You can find out more here.

We've been working with The Green Task Force for a couple of years now and it's a cause close to our heart. Find out more here about the tree planting we've done together here https://octopus.energy/blog/rooting-for-each-other/