April 12, 2021
[caption id="attachment_124501" align="alignnone" width="770"]
Another happy customer. Photo by Chris Richards Photography[/caption]
Katie Yaeli came up with the idea for Collar Me Charming in May 2013 with the help of her Golden Retriever Cassy. She had always dreamed of starting her own business and decided to combine two things she loves, animals and creativity, into a brand.
Katie was never a fan of "dressing up" her dog in uncomfortable clothes, but she did think it would be fun to be creative with the one accessory that a dog needs to wear, their collar
So she started producing hand made quality dog collars and Cassy served as the product tester and inspiration.
"This was before I had kids, and Cassy was my first baby," says Katie. "I was in between jobs, and I was just given a sewing machine. I started learning how to use it."
In the process, she taught herself how to sew and before long people were requesting her collars for their dogs. "At the time, there wasn't a lot in the pet space, and just like today, Etsy was a great place to start selling the collars that everyone loved," Katie says. "Since opening the shop, Collar Me Charming has grown exponentially, and we've delivered happiness to Charming Pups all around the world."
A big part of growing the business was that Katie wanted to give back to the animal community, and now Collar Me Charming is able to donate a portion of proceeds to local and national pet related charities. "For me it wasn't just about the business, I wanted to help out local humane societies and shelters," she says. "I was able to donate a lot of collars to those shelters to make a not-so likable dogs look more adoptable - that's the passion behind what I do. I can run a business and also help out dogs and cats in need."
[caption id="attachment_124503" align="alignnone" width="770"]
Katie and Cassy. Photo by Chris Richards Photography.[/caption]
Logo Design by Victoria Langford.
[/caption] Collar Me Charming has many different collections and accessories, from their bow tie collars and flower collars to custom bandanas and leashes. One product that really took off in 2020 was their face mask collection, in the same whimsical style of the collars but made for humans. "I was adapting to the environment, June or July, during the mask mandate when people were asking anyone who can sew to make masks," Katie says. "People were reaching out a lot, and for a while in 2020 that was my best seller. I was selling a ton of those, and the cactus and the flower designs so popular I couldn't even get supplies at one point." Collar Me Charming is using stickers and labels in a few ways. "I use a sticker on what I call 'Happy Mail', which is the branding for the outside of the envelope when I ship a collar to a customer. I also did a Thank You sticker that puts on a coupon card with dog treats when I send those out. Both label and stickers formats are great for what we're doing from a branding side." [caption id="attachment_124507" align="alignnone" width="770"]
Yellow Dog Collar Flower Set Blossom Collar. Photo by Chris Richards Photography.[/caption]
When dressing up a dog, or a product package, it's all about the look. Collar Me Charming provides the ideal look for your pet and their labels make sure the final product looks ready for the shelf. And if you're looking for a pick up on your emotional well-being, head over to the Collar Me Charming Instagram account @CollarMeCharming to see photos of really cute dogs all dolled up.
TRY LABELS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Another happy customer. Photo by Chris Richards Photography[/caption]
Katie Yaeli came up with the idea for Collar Me Charming in May 2013 with the help of her Golden Retriever Cassy. She had always dreamed of starting her own business and decided to combine two things she loves, animals and creativity, into a brand.
Katie was never a fan of "dressing up" her dog in uncomfortable clothes, but she did think it would be fun to be creative with the one accessory that a dog needs to wear, their collar
So she started producing hand made quality dog collars and Cassy served as the product tester and inspiration.
"This was before I had kids, and Cassy was my first baby," says Katie. "I was in between jobs, and I was just given a sewing machine. I started learning how to use it."
In the process, she taught herself how to sew and before long people were requesting her collars for their dogs. "At the time, there wasn't a lot in the pet space, and just like today, Etsy was a great place to start selling the collars that everyone loved," Katie says. "Since opening the shop, Collar Me Charming has grown exponentially, and we've delivered happiness to Charming Pups all around the world."
A big part of growing the business was that Katie wanted to give back to the animal community, and now Collar Me Charming is able to donate a portion of proceeds to local and national pet related charities. "For me it wasn't just about the business, I wanted to help out local humane societies and shelters," she says. "I was able to donate a lot of collars to those shelters to make a not-so likable dogs look more adoptable - that's the passion behind what I do. I can run a business and also help out dogs and cats in need."
[caption id="attachment_124503" align="alignnone" width="770"] Katie and Cassy. Photo by Chris Richards Photography.[/caption]
Logo Design
For the logo design, Katie collaborated with Victoria Langford, a childhood friend and artist. Her design brief for Victoria focused on developing the brand with a new style that was classic and sophisticated, but still simple and natural. The final design features a strong use of typography around the word CHARMING that somewhat looks like how a dog collar would fit around the neck of a pet, while the dog logo mark features a bold display of color with the red in the bow tie and the contrast on the dogs face using negative space to create the left eye and nose. It works well on their matte product labels, which you can see below, as the circular nature of the words wrap into the circle design. [caption id="attachment_124505" align="alignnone" width="770"] Logo Design by Victoria Langford.[/caption] Collar Me Charming has many different collections and accessories, from their bow tie collars and flower collars to custom bandanas and leashes. One product that really took off in 2020 was their face mask collection, in the same whimsical style of the collars but made for humans. "I was adapting to the environment, June or July, during the mask mandate when people were asking anyone who can sew to make masks," Katie says. "People were reaching out a lot, and for a while in 2020 that was my best seller. I was selling a ton of those, and the cactus and the flower designs so popular I couldn't even get supplies at one point." Collar Me Charming is using stickers and labels in a few ways. "I use a sticker on what I call 'Happy Mail', which is the branding for the outside of the envelope when I ship a collar to a customer. I also did a Thank You sticker that puts on a coupon card with dog treats when I send those out. Both label and stickers formats are great for what we're doing from a branding side." [caption id="attachment_124507" align="alignnone" width="770"]
Yellow Dog Collar Flower Set Blossom Collar. Photo by Chris Richards Photography.[/caption]
When dressing up a dog, or a product package, it's all about the look. Collar Me Charming provides the ideal look for your pet and their labels make sure the final product looks ready for the shelf. And if you're looking for a pick up on your emotional well-being, head over to the Collar Me Charming Instagram account @CollarMeCharming to see photos of really cute dogs all dolled up.
TRY LABELS FOR YOUR BUSINESS