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
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.