|
Friendship and aritistic passion lead to business success.
When two women come together in friendship, the resulting support, fun and comraderie can make for a lasting foundation for all of life’s joys and challenges. When the same two women come together to form a business based on their shared passions, the result can be a stunning success.
 |
| Emma Kate (left) and Priscilla Barroso, owners and designers |
Priscilla Barroso and Emma Kate, co-owners of Green Dog Designs, an apparel manufacturer based in San Francisco, have brought their friendship and their talents together in a way that works exceedingly well for them. Their business model, particularly with the recent addition of their new line which is crafted in Africa, is strongly based in working together and empowering women, along with creating some very creative and sophisticated dog clothing.
The business partners and friends met during their time at the Art Institute of San Francisco.
“Our love of dogs was the perfect addition to the growth of our friendship and careers,” says Barroso.
The business grew naturally out of their common interests and their friendship.
“Like most small businesses with big ideas, Green Dog Designs developed first in our minds and then in our home,” Barroso says. “In our free time, we like to entertain ourselves with craft projects, such as trend books, mosaic tiling, furniture design, and any other sort of alchemy that allows us to be creative with our hands and hearts. My kitchen is where we were doing most of our creative projects for school, so the natural progression of business ventures began there as well. It became a small factory of innovative moments and we just ran with it.”
The Launch
The business started three years ago when Barroso and Kate set out with a lofty goal: complete sustainability in their products.
“We carry the voice of sustainability throughout all of our designs,” says Barroso.
They began with their Cape Coats line, which has a lower retail price point of around $20 and soon moved into Cape Coat Collectable, a line that celebrated their love for vintage items. All of the designs in that line are made from fabrics made before the 1950s, in part because during that time, cotton was grown without pesticides. Each design was unique and Barroso and Kate included embellishments like vintage buttons and patchwork. Retail price points for this line and others in their brand are around $45 per piece. Barroso and Kate started to cross into the higher-end with their Lady of Liberty line (with retail price points around $85), which features fabrics from Liberty of London, which makes organic Egyptian cotton material.
Around the World
The new line from Green Dog Designs is the African Connection.
“The African Connection is our way of giving back to communities that cannot entirely help themselves,” Barroso says. “It’s a collection of three Japanese-inspired designs made with fabrics from a village called Jos in Nigeria.
Green Dog Designs employs women from Jos who are living with HIV/AIDS to assemble these garments and part of the proceeds from the line goes to the Mashiah Foundation, a religious non-profit organization that provides help to women with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
“Most are quilters my trade,” Barroso says, “so their attention to detail and craftsmanship is beyond amazing. My mother founded the Mashiah Foundation during her first trip to Nigeria and there was no doubt that these were the ladies we were waiting for. Also, we have both always had an affinity for Africa. The vibrancy of the people and culture appeal to our senses and ignites an inspiration to do something unique and help save the world around us at the same time.”
The co-owners have liked what they have seen in the pet industry so far, but they do see room for improvement.
“I definitely think that the consciousness of the pet industry is gearing towards a greener world,” Barroso says. “We have seen more products promoting green fabrications. But most of the industry is still being outsourced to China, which isn’t currently helping our current economic situation. If we can inspire more manufacturing in the United States, I think there will be a dramatic shift in economic enterprise of communities around us. Despite the recession though, people are still buying dog apparel. Like anything else, they are just spending cautiously.”
With seven boutiques currently carrying items from Green Dog Designs, Barroso says the wholesale effort has really just begun.
“We are still growing tremendously,” she says. “This coming year will be a dedication of our tenacity in tough times. We have currently just launched our new website and we are joining more networks that can help increase our traffic and in effect increase our network sales. Our success will be measured in the journey there and our ability to give back. We want to inspire others to do the same; I truly believe one silly little idea can make a huge difference in shaping the world today.”
 Give us your opinion on
Green Dog Designs
Industry Professional Site: Comments from non-industry professionals will be removed.
|
|