In the realm of dog clothes, a booming pet products sector, there are plenty of fashionable items that help Fido to look fabulous. Then there are those that are not only fashionable, they are functional as well, such as Doggy Hairnets.
The brainchild of Chicagoan Fred Rembert, who distributes these doggie duds through his online company PetNetPlace.com, these posh pooch clothes actually help to reduce dog shedding! (That's not all this product does, which you'll soon learn about.)Here's how Rembert came up with the idea for this pet unique pet product.
A Shaggy Dog Story
Like many pet products inventors, Rembert's love of his own pet, a German shepherd/pitbull mix named Macie, was the inspiration for this line of dog clothes.
In fact, it appeared that Macie knew she was destined for doggie fashion stardom from the moment she and Rembert met at a pet shelter in 2010.
After he and his wife Debbie decided to adopt a dog, they had a hard time finding one that they connected with. Rembert finally saw one listed online that he liked. But when the couple arrived at the shelter, that dog had already been adopted.
"We looked around, and we didn't see any other dogs that met our fancy," he said. "Then we saw Macie. She acted like she knew me. The people at the shelter were shocked, because she didn't like anyone, especially guys. She had been there for a year; she had been found by a road with rubber bands around her mouth."
After they adopted Macie, the Remberts were very happy with her, with one exception: She shed like crazy.
"We went online and checked PetSmart and Petco, to see if they had anything she could wear that would stop the shedding," Rembert said. "But we didn't see anything."
Then a little light bulb appeared above his head.
"My background is in cooking. My wife and I started thinking that maybe dogs could have hairnets like I used to wear. So we started looking for material that was light and easy to wear."
Eureka! A Unique Line of Shed-Reducing Dog Clothes is Born
Fred and Debbie eventually found a net mesh polyester material, similar to the material wedding veils are made from, which is lightweight and provides insulation.
After Debbie whipped up some outfits for Macie, the couple discovered that the concept worked.
"It really does capture the hair," Rembert said. "You just shake it out and it's done. And Macie loves wearing it; she will wear it for as long as we want her to."
Some Other Unique Properties of These Dog Clothes
In addition to the ability to contain dog shedding, Doggy Hairnets also have some other practical properties.
"It also protects dogs from shedding hair for people who suffer for dog allergies," Rembert said.
But that's not all. Another benefit is that these dog clothes aid with pet anxiety relief, similar in principle to the Thudershirt pet calming garment.
"Macie gets angsty when there are thunder storms," Rembert said. "We also get high winds in Chicago. It acts as a comfort factor."
Plus, these are easy to put on a dog, they allow for ease of movement, they are washable and they're doggone cute.
Doggy Hairnets Cause a Sensation
Like many pet products inventors, Rembert and his wife initially had no intention of going into business.
"But then a couple of our neighbors saw it and asked where we got it. They said I should get a patent. I started making it for people around here. Then I decided to go online to look for a company to mass produce them. I couldn't find one in the U.S.; everybody is outsourcing to China. So I found one in Hong Kong. It worked out."
Rembert's online dog clothes company went live in November 2010, and has been doing well, thanks to guerilla marketing and ads the inventor placed in Dog Fancy and USA Today's Pet Guide.
There's also an instructional video on YouTube.
Doggone Cute Dog Clothes
Rembert sent me one of his designs for my evaluation, a sparkly gold and dark brown jungle cat print model with little gold studs adorning the collars and cuffs that's very well made, and adorable. (FYI: These are available in a variety of sizes, for very small tea cup-sized pooches to large dogs, such as Labs and German shepherds.)
At an average cost of $14.95, these are also reasonably priced.
What I found highly amusing is that these actually resemble doggie lingerie. In fact, I showed this to my parents and my dad said it looked like Victoria's Secret for dogs. That's another added bonus: this is arguably the first line of dog clothes that can help pooches to feel sexy!
All joking aside, this is a very cute, practical pet product that is obviously made with love. I wish Fred, Debbie and Macie the best of luck with Doggy Hairnets
