Pets get designer digs in shoe-shaped beds
By JANE BURNS
jburns@madison.com 608-252-6440 | Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 3:45 pm
Go ahead and laugh at the first product Tony Deitch has developed for his new company. That’s the point, and everybody else laughs, too.
The Middleton man’s startup company, Unique Beast, has been selling a pet bed that looks like a familiar and popular shoe. The Sasquatch Pet Bed has a shape similar to the iconic Crocs, with a similar antimicrobial odor-resistant material base and a removable faux fleece washable liner.
“Pets have always been affiliated with footwear, whether they’re chewing on them or laying on a pile of them,” said Deitch, who has a background in the shoe industry. “So it was a natural connection.”
The Sasquatch debuted last fall. It was named best of show at two pet expos, the SuperZoo trade show in Las Vegas and the H.H. Backer Pet Industry Christmas Show in Chicago. That led to a plug on the “CBS Morning Show” in February.
Deitch, 49, said he has sold 3,500 of the beds, which sell for $99.95.
“Our product has a shock value to it,” Deitch said. “People laugh at it and that’s OK, we’re not selling computer software.”
Deitch is a native of Pennsylvania, where his family owned a shoe store chain that he and his brother ran until the company was sold. He moved to Boulder, Colo., and a had a friend who was a retailer for a new shoe.
“He said, ‘Look at these shoes that are selling like hotcakes,’” Deitch said.
They were Crocs, and Deitch was impressed enough to take a job in sales for the company. He was assigned the Midwest territory, which brought him to Wisconsin.
Deitch knew footwear, but thought the material for Crocs and materials similar to it could have other uses, too. That’s when his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in.
Deitch left the company in 2007 and began work on his idea. He knew he could market a product, but had to learn how to develop one, manufacture and distribute it.
He found a computer assisted design artist in Milwaukee to work on his design idea, tweaking it to make it more of a pet bed. The mold was made in China as are the products, Deitch said, adding that he is trying to find a domestic manufacturer.
The dimensions for the Sasquatch are different from a shoe to make it more comfortable for a pet. It’s wider and has a rim around the “heel” part so a pet can lean on it.
“If it was proportioned out like a shoe, it wouldn’t be right for a pet bed,” Deitch said. “We started from scratch. We couldn’t just take a shoe and give it to a factory and say, ‘Make it 3 feet long.’”
Deitch said there has been no licensing issue with Crocs and said he thinks the design enhances the popular shoe’s image.
“Even though it resembles their shoes, it was designed from scratch with different features,” Deitch said. “They know it’s out there, it’s been on national TV.”
While Crocs’ material is patented, Deitch said he uses a different form of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) for the Sasquatch. He has a patent pending for his design.
The Sasquatch is available online, at sasquatchpetbeds.com, and in what he calls high-end “boutique” pet shops. It was available in Madison-area stores, including Mounds Pet Food Warehouse, but the stores didn’t reorder after selling their inventory.
Deitch said his company had $250,000 in sales its first year, posting a slight profit. He has four people working with him as a support staff, including sales and accounting.
He plans to move beyond pet beds and into other products, including leashes and pet carriers also made of the same material. Unique Beast also sells another shoe-like pet bed, the Yeti, for smaller pets for $69.95.
Despite a down economy, the pet sector is doing well. The American Pet Products Association estimates Americans will spent $45.4 billion on their pets this year, up from last year’s $43.2 billion and well beyond the $28.5 billion spent in 2001.
“Pets are members of the family,” Deitch said. “Even in hard economic times, people take care of their family first.”
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