Petderella CEO: "Wear Comfortable and Pretty Clothes and Experience a 'Dog Life Turnaround' Like Cinderella"

[Cafe24] Pet Fashion Specialized for Dogs 'Petderella Project'
Partial Profits Support Dog Welfare... Fostering a Global Brand

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] "Meeting Welsh Corgi Noel, who came like a gift on Christmas in 2013, changed our lives. We never dreamed we would become pet fashion brand CEOs."

Do Minji (38) and So Jeongbin (37), CEOs of the pet dog specialized fashion brand 'Petderella Project,' come from backgrounds as a designer and marketer of a global manufacturing and distribution integrated (SPA) brand. They decided to start a business seven years ago after raising pets. Their blog gained word-of-mouth popularity, and when they officially launched their business in 2014, they were selected as one of Seoul City's top 10 excellent youth startups.

The brand name Petderella reflects their affection for pet dogs. The two CEOs explained, "Petderella is a compound word of 'pet' and 'Cinderella,' expressing the hope that all pet dogs live a happy life like Cinderella's life-changing story." The brand's goals are 'Pet Fashion Innovation' and 'Dog Life Turnaround.' Pet Fashion Innovation aims to bring joy through fashion to both guardians and their dogs. Dog Life Turnaround focuses on improving pet welfare by donating part of the profits to abandoned dog protection organizations or running related campaigns.

The top-selling product is the 'Marine Cool Scarf.' It is a product that allows dogs to enjoy walks comfortably even in summer when their body temperature rises, thanks to a refrigerant that swells coolly when soaked in water. The dried refrigerant can be soaked again for reuse, making it a semi-permanent product with good cost-effectiveness. Some clothing items also offer special engraving services. For example, the 'Indigo Denim Sailor T-shirt' can have the pet dog's initials embroidered through special orders.

CEO So said, "Through dozens of sample fittings and pattern research, we focus on creating comfortable yet stylish designs considering the active nature of pets," adding, "Selecting new themes for each spring/summer (SS) and fall/winter (FW) season and composing items according to the story is also a key to sales growth."

Do CEO cited appearances on various TV programs as a growth opportunity for the brand. The brand became famous through outfits worn by famous celebrities' dogs. It naturally became an essential brand for medium-sized dog owners to the extent that 'Welsh Corgi clothes' became a related search term. She said, "Looking back, the brand philosophy of focusing all energy on the essence of the product was effective," and added, "Sharing daily life of our dog Noel on social networking services (SNS) to communicate with customers in real time and collaborating with major fashion brands also greatly helped the brand's growth." Due to ongoing customer inquiries, they are also considering launching a YouTube channel featuring Noel's videos.

With the growth of the pet category, Petderella's revenue has been growing over 200% annually. The number of stores carrying the brand has increased to 20, including online and offline select shops. They operate two offline direct stores located in Itaewon Gyeongridan-gil and Ilsan Goyang City, and are also present in department stores such as Apgujeong Galleria Department Store and Jamsil Lotte World Mall Avenue L. They have also expanded into various online select shops like '10x10' and 'Musinsa.'

The short- and long-term goal of these young CEOs in their 30s is to grow Petderella into a global brand. Since participating in 'SuperZoo,' the world's largest pet industry expo held in Las Vegas, USA, in 2018, they have been exploring entry into the US market with overseas partners. To this end, they built their own mall on the global e-commerce platform Cafe24 to meet global consumers. CEO So emphasized, "It has been seven years since the Petderella Project started," and added, "We will become a pet culture brand that leads the right pet culture."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.