BEST IN SHOW
Lavishing pets with luxury accessories and hotel stays has become de rigueur for owners amid our self-care culture.
ON A RECENT summer afternoon, Eric and I decided to take a staycation. I’d been working long hours and Eric was suffering in the heat, but mostly we needed to reconnect with some quality time together. We decided to check in to The Old Clare Hotel in Sydney’s Chippendale, a designer establishment with the benefits of air conditioning and room service. On arrival I was thrilled to discover the rooftop pool, but Eric was the one who was truly spoiled. In our room he found his own mini retro-style velvet lounge to sleep on and handmade Motion Ceramics food and water bowls to dine from, along with a selection of plush toys and a menu for complimentary pet in-room dining. He also received a handwritten welcome letter from the hotel, but truth be told was more interested in the selection of gourmet treats on the sideboard. After polishing off some particularly tasty kangaroo snacks, my Burmese cat was soon fast asleep on his designer pet bed as I headed poolside before we reconvened for a restorative Netflix-and-chill evening together in one of the Old Clare’s new pet-friendly rooms.
“We all know that pets are family,” says The Old Clare Hotel creative project manager Kimberley Peel. “Travelling with them is sometimes a necessity and sometimes it’s something you just want to do, because you love the company of your dog or your cat and they’re an important part of your life.”
Eric is certainly an important part of my life, and I’m not alone says research that has found the bond between Australians and their animals is worth billions. The pet supplies market numbers some $3 billion according to the Pets and Pet Supplies Retailers report by IBISWorld, which found the industry had grown by 7.2% from 2014-2019. Add veterinary, grooming and other services, and expenditure jumps to a whopping $13 billion, reports a 2019 study of pet ownership by Newgate Research for Animal Medicines.
That investment in keeping our pets fed, healthy and wellaccessorised is up from $12 billion in 2016, with toys, gifts and pet clothing accounting for $1.2 billion of the total shelled out to keep our animals looking and feeling fine. Business is booming at the pointy end of the market, with purveyors of sumptuous collars and leads, gourmet food, plush beds and on-trend clothing cashing in on the desire of designer Dolittles to shower their pets with luxury.
From Scandinavian dog sofas by MiaCara ($1390) to Houndztooth Carrara marble food and water bowls ($129) and Modkat minimalist kitty litter boxes ($289), discerning pets and their owners are spoiled for choice when it comes to living their very best designer life. Pet fashion trends are up 199% on Pinterest, according to its January 2020 Insights report, with top trending searches and products including fleece dog’s coats (up 141%) and hairless cat jumpers (up
25%) while Spotify is now curating personalised playlists for dogs, cats and other pets. Simply visit the site, pick from a trait that describes your pet best, then add a name and a photo. The Spotify algorithm will then come up with a line-up of tunes designed to rock your animal’s world.
“Owners definitely want to lavish love on their animal, with young professional heterosexual couples our main customers, followed closely by the gay community,” say Shane Schofield and Bruce Dynan, of Sydney store PupNPussy where you’ll find the extravagant items above. Shane turned his talents from human to animal retail after acquiring his French bulldog FJ 11 years ago, launching in 2013. “Before FJ we didn’t realise the bond and the love you could have with an animal, so that’s where I decided I wanted to focus the rest of my working career,” he says.
The Daily Edited co-founder Alyce Tran expanded her attentions to animals when customers of her monogrammed accessories brand began requesting collars, leads and leather poop bag holders for their dogs. “In some cases a pet is the ultimate accessory so keeping them looking as chic as you do can be important,” says Alyce.
Keeping pets healthy is another priority for owners, so when it comes to the slogan for Melbourne raw food and animal apothecary store The Pet Grocer you might be talking about an organic grocer for humans. “Healthy, sustainable and ethical food for healing” is the mantra of the store, opened in 2014 by Jason and Janine McIver. The elegant, minimalist South Melbourne space sells essential oil blends, balms and cleansing bars in addition to its packs, bags and “seasonal boxes” of freeze-dried raw food treats. “When we discovered what was actually in pet food it was quite distressing so we decided to only stock healthy, natural products with no fillers, sourced from Australia and New Zealand,” says Jason.
The “quality lifestyle goods for the discerning modern dog owner” sold by Nice Digs are also all-Australian made, crafted by artisans in the Dandenong Ranges who take briefs from founder Georgia Havekotte, a former fashion and textile designer. “I started looking for pet products that would work within our house but I couldn’t find anything that aligned with my design style and ethos,” says Georgia who began making dog beds featuring her colourful prints, then expanded into collars, leads, bandanas and more after launching in 2015. Business has doubled every year since then for her seasonal collections shown in “look books”. “My ideal customer is a design-focused person who happens to be a pet owner,” she says. Sales took off in 2018 when US retail giant Nordstrom came knocking, asking Nice Digs to feature in its “pup-up” store.
Japanese-themed retailer Hachi bills itself as “a theme park for dog lovers”. Founder Kaya Hill opened the store in South Yarra in 2017 which includes a dog photo studio and grooming service, and sells “dog wine” such as chardognay, chic coats and colourful bandanas. “We’re out of dog wine now because we can’t keep up with demand,” says Kaya.
A regular customer of Nice Digs and Hachi is Jinkee, a red toy poodle and canine influencer whose @lifeofjinkee Instagram account has 76,200 followers. Owner Sofia Klein, a Melbourne food and travel writer, was gobsmacked as the numbers started to roll in after she set Jinkee up on social media. “Overnight she went from having a few hundred friends and family to a few thousand strangers,” says Sofia. Jinkee has her own product range, a series of enamel pins featuring dog breeds, with part proceeds going to local animal hospital Lort Smith.
The interest in Instagram accounts such as Jinkee’s makes sense when you consider almost two-thirds of Australian households have a pet today, including 5.1 million dogs and 3.8 million cats, with over 60 per cent of dog and cat owners referring to their “fur baby” as a family member and spending three to four hours with their pets a day, reports Newgate Research. Beneath the explosion of cats on Instagram and menus for Fido in restaurants and cafes, pets play a role in staving off loneliness, depression and urban alienation. “Being able to come home to a pet who offers you unconditional love and company is an amazing stress release and happiness booster,” says Georgia.
Laisse ‘Rocabar’ dog lead from Hermès. Monogrammed poop bag holder in Forest Green from The Daily Edited. Dog collar from Burberry. The Pet Grocer store in South Melbourne and its own line of products. Marble pet bowl from PupNPussy. Dog lead from Nice Digs. Arvin Grex ‘Angus’ dog bed set. A pet-friendly room at the Old Clare Hotel, Sydney. Pet bowl from Coco Republic. Kelly Wearstler
Collection bone and kennel.