Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy Schlax
Hi Tracy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ben and I always loved dogs. After losing one of our beloved dogs we decided to volunteer and foster with a rescue to fill the huge void he left. It soon became a major part of our life. The rescue we were with at that time would transport some dogs from the overcrowded, high-kill shelters in the South to Minnesota. They would come here often without collars or with dirty, grungy looking ones. Wanting my fosters to look nice and stand out I was buying nice collars for them which was getting expensive. I realized people were looking for some sort of connection to a dog as an excuse to adopt them. So, if the dog was wearing a Batman collar and the person loved Batman that was the “sign” this was his dog.
Not wanting to be wasteful and also wanting to save money I was gluing ribbon and basically anything I could think of to the old collars to make them look nice. I once even cut the collar off an old dress shirt and glued it on to the dog collar to make my foster appear more gentlemanly. It worked! He got adopted and his new mom loved his collar! I soon began deconstructing the collars, wrapping them in fabric and badly sewing them together again. People started noticing my creations and began requesting one of their own.
At this point I needed to upgrade my sewing machine to an industrial one that could handle the material. I also started doing more research on what it was I was actually doing. I ditched the old, dirty collars I was repurposing and found suppliers for the webbing and hardware. Soon I was making new collars, leashes and harnesses with the perfect test subjects, all the rescue dogs. I made a collar, harness, and leash set to go with each foster as they were adopted as a way of sending a piece of me with them. Soon adopters began requesting sets for their other dogs or for friends. It was at this point my husband, Ben, said this hobby was costing us too much money and we should turn it into a business. That’s how Sweetie-pie Collars was born. We have expanded our line to include Martingale collars, snap buckle collars, cat collars, leashes, harnesses, bandanas, and beaded necklaces along with other accessories.
We named the company Sweetie-pie Collars after our Rottweiler who passed away. Her picture is our logo.
In 2018 we helped start New Leash Rescue of MN where I sit as a board member. We are passionate about rescue. We still foster and volunteer with New Leash and our business donates items for fundraising, holds fundraising sales and donates financially. We also help other rescues as well such as sending collars and beaded necklaces to shelters to help get dogs adopted and making bandanas for fundraising and adoption events.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Neither Ben or I have a business background so we are just learning as we go. There are so many hats you have to wear when you run your own business. You have to control inventory, be the creative team, be manufacturing, be social media, be sales, be accounting, be the photographer, find the events, network, customer service…it’s so easy to lose track of certain areas because you’re focusing too much on other areas. I also struggle with taking risks especially with large events. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have amazing family and friends who support us. I also like to start so many different projects and tend to get overwhelmed. Ben often has to rein me in. We balance each other out that way.
I’m also so amazed and honored that people want my creations. We have repeat customers and it just fills me with joy. It took a lot of convincing to get me to agree to starting the business. I never imagined people would love what I make.
When we first started we really did not know what we were doing. We just signed up to be a vendor at a couple events. The other vendors were so amazing and gave us great advice. They told us about up coming events we should sign up for and what we should be pricing products at. It really helped us out. Now we make sure to help out anyone who might be need it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Sweetie-pie Collars makes collars, leashes, harnesses, bandanas, beaded necklaces and other accessories for your furry best friend. We specialize in the snarky and unique. Many of our products like to poke fun at our pets by calling out their less than positive personality traits. Bandanas that say “Kinda an Asshole”, “I Love Embarrassing my Human”, “Sasshole”, Collars that say “Asshole”, “Jackass”, “Total Badass”, and “Walking Vet Bill” are just examples of what we carry. Of course we also carry collars that say “I Love my Daddies”, I Love my Mommies”, “Daddy’s Girl” ,”Momma’s Boy”, and “Best Dog Ever”. We have collars with pickles, burgers, macaroni, dinosaur nuggets, angler fish, and tacos. We take custom requests. Basically if I can find the fabric, I will make it.
Because we are so passionate about rescue, we work with rescues to donate products to help animals get adopted. Collars, leashes, beaded necklaces and bandanas all help to make animals stand out so more people will notice them. We also donate a portion of our sales to help New Leash Rescue of MN which is the rescue we foster and volunteer with.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We take pride in our products. All our collars, leashes, harnesses and beaded necklaces have been tested on our own dogs and foster dogs. We tend to foster the large breeds who are more active, higher needs and come to us untrained so we find out fast if a collar is going to break or get chewed to pieces. When we started making the beaded necklaces we tested them on our foster Xena, a Cane Corso\Presa mix who loves to destroy everything. We had beads all over the house and yard before we found the perfect strength of wire. However, we always tell our customers if there is any reason they are unhappy with our products we will exchange it or refund their money.
Pricing:
- Collars run $5-$25
- Leashes run $5-$15
- Bandanas run $3-$12
- Beaded Necklaces $10-$25
- Harness $10-$25
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sweetie-piecollars.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetie_pie_collars?igsh=bjdsOXFkN2J4b3Z2
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18dDj4bc2G/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweetie_pie_collars?_t=ZT-8uDa2Ap7Hyg&_r=1
