Technology - March 28, 2001
Anne H. Rojas and Emilie Hight met at a dog obedience class five years ago and often commiserated about how their pups tore up their cars after a workout at the park. The complaint led them to start making and selling auto seat covers designed for dog lovers. They initially concentrated on high-end, custom-designed covers, but they realized belatedly that their market was too narrow. Listening to their customers and widening their product appeal made their business viable. Rojas was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.
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Because we are in Santa Barbara and it’s a high-end market, we figured we could have a custom business and charge a higher price for our product.
In the beginning, we worked out of my gym at home and spent a lot of time hand-measuring every customer’s car, sourcing Italian tapestry fabrics, sewing in special channeling and poly fill and custom-cutting and fitting each car seat cover. We did pretty well initially, charging $195 for the covers, and after six months we opened a storefront.
We had to travel to Los Angeles to find sources for fabric, since most wholesale fabric merchants have minimum orders of 10,000 or 25,000 yards, and they laughed us off the Internet when we tried to order 20 or 30 yards online.
It took awhile, but eventually we found good textile mills that were willing to work with us because they liked our business and knew we had potential to grow.
We also bought two industrial sewing machines and hired sewing contractors to work for us.
We found out the hard way that we couldn’t always rely on the claim that the fabric had been pre-washed and preshrunk.
After a few covers shrank 2 or 3 inches--ruining the special fit that we offer--we bought an industrial washer and dryer at a yard sale, and now we pre-wash and shrink everything ourselves.
Six or eight months into the business, however, we realized that we couldn’t make ends meet if we continued to offer only the highest-end products. There were not enough clients to make it worthwhile.
We started to see a pattern developing: We were turning away people who inquired about the covers but wanted a cheaper product, and we were turning away people who had just purchased new cars and wanted covers quickly.
Our custom-cut covers took three or four weeks to measure, sew and deliver, and that was too long for people who wanted to protect their cars right away.
Once we wised up, we decided to develop mid- and lower-priced lines to increase our sales volume. Emilie designed a process that lets customers measure their own cars and then pick from eight standard-size covers. We use pre-cut fabrics and patterns, which reduces our labor and speeds up production.
We use the same materials and lining, with denim on top and no puff filling, for the mid-level product and charge $115, and we sell an unlined, unfilled cover made of solid nylon cordura for the lower end of the market at $69.
The decision to widen our offerings has made all the difference. We didn’t really know what our market would be like when we started, and we realized after the fact that we needed to listen to our customers and be willing to adapt. Now, the mid-level cover makes up the bulk of our business, even though we still have a number of high-end customers for whom money is no object.
We put our business online and we found a way to make it work, even for the custom orders. We made contacts at all the local car dealerships, so we can get a customer’s make, model and year, and if they can’t bring their cars to us, we go to the dealer and physically measure the seats in an identical car.
In all of the hundreds of covers we’ve made, we have had only one returned because it didn’t fit.
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If your business can provide a lesson to other entrepreneurs, contact Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016 or at kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number.
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At a Glance
* Company: Canine Covers
* Owner: Anne Rojas and Emilie Hight
* Nature of business: Design and manufacture of car seat covers for dogs
* Location: 36 W. Calle Laureles, Santa Barbara 93105
* Founded: 1999
* E-mail: caninecovers@aol.com
* Web site: www.caninecovers.com
* Employees: 3
* Annual revenue: $14,360
