GREENE — Sit. Stay. Buy.
Robin Healey opened Kiki Couture 18 months ago, making canine collars, bow ties and coats, specializing in deep-chested — or big-boned — dogs.
Last Christmas, she was surprised to find her company featured among the Maine-made gifts touted in Down East magazine.
She’s shipped to 47 states and several countries — and in the past year, sales have tripled.
“It’s been awesome,” Healey said.
The business’ inspiration had been a portly granddog, nicknamed Kiki, who didn’t fit in off-the-rack outfits.
“(On Etsy), our best-selling bow tie and collar are the American flag bow ties and American flag collars — that kind of says something about patriotism and people with their dogs,” she said. “Living in Maine, when I go to the craft fairs, I sell out really fast of anything that’s blaze orange. I mean, I can’t keep it in stock. It’s kind of funny.”
Kiki Couture products come with a tag that encourages people to take a picture of their newly dressed pet and post it on Facebook or Instagram.
And customers do.
There’s a smiling Chihuahua-mix named Pedro in a striped lime-green bow tie. A young German shepherd-mix pup named Otis in a New England Patriots fleece coat.
A persistent Weimaraner named Zella sports three collars — lobster-theme, summer-theme and St. Patrick’s Day-theme — after she’d brought her owner all three, a subtle hint to go out.
Healey closed her last business, a Portland salon, in December 2012, during the recession. She’d fought the obvious for a while, she said, but with money tight, people weren’t treating themselves much anymore.
“They weren’t doing pedicures and facials,” she said. “It’s amazing how people have $10, $20 to spend on their dogs. It works.”
Healey welcomed a her first grandchild this year, a little girl named Vida, who appears with some of Healey’s dogs in marketing material and inspired Healey to start sewing a line of baby car seat canopy covers.
“We kind of added a little Kiki Baby on the side,” she said. “I might add a little to that over the next year or two.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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