S4 EP11: Returning my Pugs clothes pissed me off

I'll be honest with you. My goal with the Pugs and Stripes collection wasn't to make them cheap, it was to make them pugging porfect for bracky breeds, which means they needed to be a quality product that could withstand a full pug life. And I think we achieved that if you believe our five paw reviews. Where else are you going to find outfits specifically designed for the bug body shape using recycled fabric and made in Australia to our high standards?

Hello Hormans and Puggies. Welcome to the Pug Live show brought to you by Pug Parties because your pug deserves to be the best dressed at the Porty and you can check out the Pugs and stripes collection@pugparties.com I am your host Donna and with me are my puggy co hosts Rosie

and Kenji with their rescue foster brother Buster. Now if you've ever yelled at your screen during a failed online shopping spree, wrestled your pug's floof into a too tight T shirt or dress, or just wondered why no one makes clothes that actually fit pugs, you're in the right place. Today we're diving nose first into the

snorty story behind the Pugs and Stripes collection. What pissed me off enough to design my own line of pug friendly fashion, what we fixed that other brands ignore, and how we turned a whole lot of frustration into one pugtastic solution. But before we zoom in, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. You'll find the link in the show notes so you can be the first to know when the next episode lands and get access to lots more

pugtastic goodies. Okay, I'm going to be blunt and a little crass. Returning my pug's clothes after spending hours searching for something that looks

fabulous pisses me off. I've been shopping for my pugs locally and online for the last 20 years, and after so many fails which resulted in me either entering the exchange merry go round trying to find the right fit until I just gave up, or the painful return process that requires more steps than an IKEA instruction manual, I decided that I needed to either do a deep dive into the pet industry to find a brand that catered to the unique pug body shape, or design the outfits myself.

Knowing next to nothing about designing clothes, let alone pug clothes, I initially decided to go hunting for brands that could achieve my goal of clothes that fit, were comfortable and reflected their personality. Was pretty successful at finding brands that sold clothes that fit pugs, but it was difficult to find brands that provided A wide range of pug fitting sizes that also had personality. Maybe I needed to walk this path with my pugs to truly understand what

their needs were. But one thing's for sure. Conversation, events and playgroup convinced me that I wasn't the only pug poren looking for pug specific apparel and that no brand seemed to be meeting the needs of the pug community fully. So I took matters into my own metaphorical paws. And I set out with Rosie and Kenji to design a dress and T shirt that wouldn't just fit pugs comfortably and practically, but would be pugtastically stylish.

Because, let's be real, pugs were born to stand out in a crowd. Now, saying that I took matters into my own paws is one thing. Actually doing that is so much more complicated. There's no such thing as a dog clothing pattern specifically designed for brachycephalic breeds. Dog apparel is designed for a generic dog body type. And there is nothing generic about pugs. Not only do they have a unique personality, they also have a unique body shape.

That means their chest and neck are about twice the size of the generic dog body, and their back is about a third shorter. As well, there are a whole lot of dogs squeezed into a widdle package. That meant that we had to create a clothing pattern specifically designed for brachycephalic breeds basically from scratch.

How do we do that, you ask? By collecting hundreds of PUGS measurements to determine the perfect sizing ratio, talking to Porrins about what they like and don't like about their pug's current wardrobe, and most importantly, what they wish their pugs apparel included. It's a good thing. We love pugs, enjoy getting sneezed and snotted on, and even getting an occasional lick for good measure because our research phase took a couple of years to complete. But the positive outcome of

all of this work was a block pattern, the foundation for all of our outfits that meets the needs of our favorite breed, allowing us to create our first prototype dress and T shirt. As I mentioned before, creating pug apparel is not something that I had experience in, and I had some help throughout the different stages of the development process. I'll try and break down each step as easily as possible so you don't have to relive all of my many mistakes that got

us to our pug tastic collection. Even after all the measuring and talking to pugporants about their pugs needs, we still needed a lot of fit testing. We tested seven prototypes before we were finally happy with the Fit. We tested the prototype T shirt and dress on multiple pugs in multiple sizes with a couple of different fabrics. We didn't want to leave anything to chance because we knew the pug porins wanted it to fit first time every time.

Our biggest challenge was getting the harness hole length right. Let's face it, there are a lot of different types of harnesses out there. And the neck design right, because we wanted to make sure that any puggy with a more robust neck ruff could still enjoy their outfit without feeling like they're being choked. Right? We also had some fun getting the length right. Too long and it got in the way of their tail or going to the toilet. Too short.

That looked like a puggy midriff top, which looked just a little bit wrong. But once we got that sorted, we focused on the fabric type. Who knew there were so many options for comfort, stretch and washability? We settled on a recycled polyester elastane blend that ticked all of our boxes, was reducing our poor print on the planet, and was printable,

meaning we could have a print that was uniquely pug. Whilst we're in the prototype phase, we met a wonderful designer, Maddie from the Design Weaver, who helped us bring together all of our ideas of what it meant to be a pug and how we could reflect that unique personality on our fabric. With the help of the PUG community, both in Pawson, at Playgroup and online via our social accounts, we determined the color scheme, print, design, pug face, and even the direction of the

stripes, not to mention the name of the collection. Having pug parent input on the design was really important to us, and we cannot thank our grumble friends and followers for their input because without it, I don't think the pugs and stripes collection would be as fabulous as it is if we hadn't. I do need to mention that the chiffon on the skirt of the dress is not made of recycled material, but we're on the lookout for a more sustainable option and we'll keep you up to

date on what we found when it happens. Now that we had a pug approved pattern, sustainable fabric and pug community approved print, it was time to find a printer for the fabric to bring it all together. Thankfully, recycled polyester can be printed on using environmentally friendly dyes, and we found a printer in Sydney Meryton Textiles who could print on our fabric and cut the pattern out using minimal waste techniques, meaning there was less scrap fabric left over to go

into landfill. Bonus if you've never seen this way of fabric printing. And laser cutting. Pop over to our social accounts and scroll back to February this year because it is very cool to watch. As you can imagine. Whilst we were deciding on fabric and print, we were also looking for local manufacturers who could create the final outfits and hopefully fit me into their schedule.

Most importantly, I met with four manufacturers in Melbourne shortlisted to two who both created pore fix samples for us and we ultimately pre approved them for the manufacturing of of the launch collection. With our printed and pre cut fabric ready to go, our manufacturer Dog Solitude got to work on piecing everything together to bring our dream into reality.

We had a slight haircut with the binding strips for the neck and arm sleeves that required reprinting of the fabric and being sent to a specialised binding cutter to cut to the correct width. One of the many lessons learned throughout this process. But once that was resolved we had

our launch collection. Unbelievably, this entire process took 18 months, not including the research time which was over a couple of years and at times I felt like it was dragging by and at other times felt like it was all happening at once and I wasn't sure how I was going to cope. But the first time doing something is always the toughest. So when we decide to create our next collection it will be easier and faster hopefully and we will be inviting

you to be involved in the process again. Now the collection launched in April and since then we've had some puntastic feedback and some great questions about the process and the outfits themselves. So I thought I'd try and answer some of the more frequently asked ones to give you an even more in depth look behind the floof and snorts.

So the first one what were the mandatory things to be included in the design? When I decided to take matters into my own paws there were some very specific requirements that I am happy to say we managed to achieve. I think it goes without saying, but our outfits had to be size inclusive, pugs big, small or somewhere in between because returning or exchanging poor fitting outfits pisses me off and pugporants

everywhere as well. It had to be designed with a unique pug body in mind and harness friendly so that it can be worn over any harness on the market and I think we've achieved it, no one's told me otherwise. It had to be toilet friendly so your puggy can do their business without the outfit getting in the way because no puggy wants to walk in a wet outfit and no pawrant wants to have to wash the

outfit every time they go out. The fabric had to be machine washable and quick drying because no one has time for hand washing and we wanted to make sure that the outfit would be ready whenever your puggy was. I wanted it to be Australian made. We were already Australian designed and I was so happy that I was able to find manufacturers who were as excited about our designs as we were. The bonus for our US followers is that the Australian made tariff is only 10%.

Now. Where possible, I wanted to use sustainable fabrics that were soft, breathable and stretchy for easy dressing and undressing, body expansion and contraction and suitable for all seasons. There would be no scratchy labels so there was nothing to catch on your puggy's fur and with it positioned at the bottom of the back of the outfit, a porant would be able to have easy access to the label whilst their puggies

were still wearing the outfit. I wanted the fabric print to reflect the unique personality that is pug and I was so happy that we were able to design it with the pug community's input. I knew I wasn't the only one who thought our pugs deserved an outfit that screamed personality and take notice of me all in one wittle outfit.

And the design had to be PUG tested and approved by multiple pugs of various sizes, ages and crosses to make sure that the outfit met their needs without sacrificing quality

or comfort tick. I think we managed to do all of that. The next question we get asked is why does the Pugs and Stripes outfits cost more than the clothes I can get at other shops such as Kmart or my pet shop? I'll be honest with you, my goal with the Pugs and Stripes collection wasn't to make them cheap, it was to make them pugging porfect for bracky breeds. Which means they needed to be a quality product that could withstand a full pug life and I think we

achieved that if you believe our five paw reviews. Where else are you going to find outfits specifically designed for the bug body shape using recycled fabric and made in Australia to our high standards? I know personally that one well designed and manufactured outfit will last through more washes and play dates than a lower quality product. Which means per wear you

will get more out of a Pugs and Stripes outfit than you will a cheaper imitation. The last question I get asked a fair bit is what makes you think you're better than other dog apparel brands? Fair question. I can tell you, thanks to years of shopping for my pugs that other dog apparel brands don't care about making their outfits pug life friendly. How Do I know well how many dog apparel brands are designed and and size to fit the unique bracky body of barrel chest,

thick neck and short body? Not many since they base their designs on a generic dog body shape that focuses on back length and not chest size. That is not the case with the Pugs and Stripes collection. And how many dog apparel brands make their outfits harness friendly because they know that porens don't walk their pugs on a collar and lead? Not many. I can tell you that I've had to look hard to find outfits that are harness friendly dogger

power brands. Either assume you walk your dog on a lead connected to a collar or you will just put your harness on over the top of the outfit covering the outfit you brought to show off on your pug. The Pugs and Stripes collection is not only harness friendly so you can show them off in style, it's also toilet friendly so there's no widdle accidents

that just ruin a perfectly good outing. And finally, how many dog apparel brands use super soft and super stretchy fabric that makes dressing and undressing over excited or not so helpful puggies a breeze? Not many. We tested the Pugs and Stripes outfit on multiple pugs of different levels of excitement to make sure that

getting dressed or undressed was the fun experience. It's meant to be and so quick that you'll either be out the door or on the way to a post walk nap faster than a pug at snack time. Finally, I do want to quickly mention that although other dog apparel brands do donate to rescue organisations, they rarely donate to pug specific rescues. It's really important to us that we pay for the love that

we have shared with our puggies over the last 20 years. We do this by donating a dollar from every sale to help puggies in need and where we can. We also sponsor events so rescue puggies can find their loving forever family and live their puggily ever after.

Now from the frustrations that sparked the idea to the paws on the ground research that made it real, I hope you've enjoyed this behind the scenes peek at just how much love, effort and pug hair went into creating a collection that finally fits your pug deserves to be seen, snorted and celebrated in comfortable style. Now if you've nodded, laughed or let out a frustrated S solidarity during this episode, pop over to our Facebook group the Pug Life Show Pugcast and share your shopping wins or

fails. Plus, if you haven't already, please follow the podcast so you don't miss out on the next episode. And while you're at it, leave us a review. It only takes a couple of seconds to give us a five star review and it goes a long way to helping our pug porans find us. Rosie, Kenji, Buster and I hope that you'll join us again soon. But until then, have a pawsome week. And hoomans be generous with the snackies.