Having pets is certainly a wonderful thing and most of us regard them as our family members. When we have festivities, it’s always fun to dress them up. However, it’s difficult to find traditional costumes for our pets.
This is a problem that Jessica Sharmini Perapaghran, 35, a senior executive, has encountered. In order to solve it, she started designing traditional Indian costumes for her dogs.
Jessica with her precious fur children.
As Jessica herself is a consumer, she thought that maybe other fur parents would want their furkids to wear traditional Indian costumes as well. So, she got to designing and working with tailors to create these wonderful pet wear and sold them on her Instagram page named Doggo and Me.
“You can see a lot of pet wear in the market but Indian traditional pet wear with quality stitching, good and long-lasting fabrics with proper designs are actually very rare.”
She added, “apart from that, I wanted all furkids to blend in during the festivities by having a special attire of their own and enabling fur families to create wonderful memories.”
Doggo and Me initially started off 2 years ago as a mobile dog grooming and pet taxi (the services are still offered now) and Jessica took a leap of faith on August 8 2022, when she launched the festive pet wear collection.
Hours and hours of designing and research paid off as one of the collections was sold out in just a day. In the following months, she launched a few more collections and they were all sold out by the end of September.
“We took a lot of things into account such as making sure the fabric Malaysian weather friendly, good lining fabric and proper thread work for each collection. We even chose specific threads to ensure high quality petwear for our clients,” she added.
Many fur parents were bummed out that they were unable to snag a piece of pet wear for their furkid. However, Jessica made a simpler version and that’s the Rangoli Collection which is a festive bandana.
The business owner also said that they offer pet wear from sizes S to XL but for pets who do not fit into these sizes, they can always custom-make the pieces for them (dogs and cats included).
When asked if Doggo and Me will have festive collections for other festivities, Jessica said that she will need to look at the “market response, expectations and demands from our recent sales.”
“Hopefully as we get more established, we can start to expand our pet wear for other festivities, not just pet apparels but also other festive products.”
As Jessica is a pet lover before a business owner, she hopes to shed light on how many pet shelters are struggling after the pandemic.
“It’s crucial for pet shelters to have a steady stream of financial support for the fur kids’ welfare. I hope that those who are able to donate will do so but even if they can’t, they can always lend a helping hand by sharing out pet shelters’ pleas on social media,” she said.
“Our little contributions will make a huge difference to these animals.”
This is certainly very inspiring. If you would like to get some festive pet bandana for your fur child, you can contact Jessica on her Instagram page or through WhatsApp. Orders are open until 23 October but to avoid disappointment, order them earlier so that they will reach you before the festive season!
Also read: WATCH: Soldier Cuddles With His K9 After Merdeka Celebrations, But There’s A Bittersweet Reason Why
