diff --git a/src/scripts/components/input.js b/src/scripts/components/input.js
index cf21756..74dd755 100644
--- a/src/scripts/components/input.js
+++ b/src/scripts/components/input.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { calcWidthOfInput, stripHTML } from '../lib/utils';
+import { calcWidthOfInput, escape } from '../lib/utils';
 
 export default class Input {
   constructor({ element, type, classNames, placeholderValue }) {
@@ -21,11 +21,11 @@ export default class Input {
   }
 
   set value(value) {
-    this.element.value = value;
+    this.element.value = `${value}`;
   }
 
   get value() {
-    return stripHTML(this.element.value);
+    return escape(this.element.value);
   }
 
   addEventListeners() {
diff --git a/src/scripts/components/input.test.js b/src/scripts/components/input.test.js
index 62a228d..45172fc 100644
--- a/src/scripts/components/input.test.js
+++ b/src/scripts/components/input.test.js
@@ -336,6 +336,12 @@ describe('components/input', () => {
       instance.value = value;
       expect(instance.element.value).to.equal(value);
     });
+
+    it('casts value to string', () => {
+      const value = 1234;
+      instance.value = value;
+      expect(instance.element.value).to.equal(`${value}`);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('value getter', () => {
diff --git a/src/scripts/constants.js b/src/scripts/constants.js
index ba09816..1bb189d 100644
--- a/src/scripts/constants.js
+++ b/src/scripts/constants.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { stripHTML } from './lib/utils';
+import { escape } from './lib/utils';
 
 export const DEFAULT_CLASSNAMES = {
   containerOuter: 'choices',
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ export const DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
   noChoicesText: 'No choices to choose from',
   itemSelectText: 'Press to select',
   uniqueItemText: 'Only unique values can be added.',
-  addItemText: value => `Press Enter to add <b>"${stripHTML(value)}"</b>`,
+  addItemText: value => `Press Enter to add <b>"${escape(value)}"</b>`,
   maxItemText: maxItemCount => `Only ${maxItemCount} values can be added.`,
   itemComparer: (choice, item) => choice === item,
   fuseOptions: {
diff --git a/src/scripts/lib/utils.js b/src/scripts/lib/utils.js
index b12aec7..12926eb 100644
--- a/src/scripts/lib/utils.js
+++ b/src/scripts/lib/utils.js
@@ -185,11 +185,11 @@ export const isScrolledIntoView = (el, parent, direction = 1) => {
 };
 
 /**
- * Escape html in the string
+ * Escapes html in the string
  * @param  {String} html Initial string/html
  * @return {String}  Sanitised string
  */
-export const stripHTML = html =>
+export const escape = html =>
   html.replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
     .replace(/>/g, '&rt;')
     .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ export const calcWidthOfInput = (input, callback) => {
   let width = input.offsetWidth;
 
   if (value) {
-    const testEl = strToEl(`<span>${stripHTML(value)}</span>`);
+    const testEl = strToEl(`<span>${escape(value)}</span>`);
     testEl.style.position = 'absolute';
     testEl.style.padding = '0';
     testEl.style.top = '-9999px';