Jessica Tran never had a dog before she adopted Ghost, an Australian Shepherd mix who is, in Tran's own words, "extraordinarily beautiful." Ghost has these giant caramel saucers for eyes like two glossy Werther's Originals fresh off the conveyor belt and a series of peachy white freckles dotting the middle of her button nose.
Ghost is also, in Tran's own words, "an asshole." Tran calls her as much lovingly, adoringly — after all, she is the namesake of Tran's vintage clothing shop, Ghost Vintage — much as you would a family member you love unconditionally but who is terrible at remembering birthdays. That's because Ghost is part of the family.
Adjacency, as it turns out, is good for business. The global pet-care industry is exploding, with a new onslaught of direct-to-consumer pet brands stretching the market to reach an estimated $202.6 billion by 2025. This is in no small part aided by millennials and Generation Z consumers, who are becoming pet owners earlier and more frequently than generations past.
"There wasn't anybody in the space fusing that functional element with design aesthetics," says Chatani, "or a resonant brand catering to consumers in the same way that has been done in other verticals for a younger consumer, who is much more focused on style, as well as function." Chatani specifically references Everlane as a point of comparison, in that the brand sets its sights on basics and executes product launches against the essentials category alone. Specializing in minimalism allows consumers a certain degree versatility, where they can build a closet, a home or an entire lifestyle around the elevated staples that fit their greater, more personalized style. Pet essentials should be no different.
If Wild One is akin to Everlane in this analogy, Max-Bone is closer to, say, a Ralph Lauren. Founder and CEO Parisa Fowles-Pazdro launched the elevated pet label in 2016, after she got her first dog, Macintosh, and came to understand first-hand just how many home supplies are required for dog ownership. Like Chatani, Fowles-Pazdro was surprised by the lack of Macintosh-friendly pieces that fit in with her otherwise meticulously decorated home.