GS PETS Fall 2019

Pawducts with Purpose By Sam Ujvary

For our pets, we want the world. So, we try our best to find companies with a mission to help support both our own pets and pets who are looking for their forever home. Gold Paw Series and Sustainably Yours are two companies with great missions and great products.

Gold Paw Series

Rebecca Gadd, CEO

www.goldpawseries.com

Company mission: Gold Paw Series is a family-run dogwear company that’s dedicated to improving the lives of dogs and their owners with thoughtful, practical solutions to everyday problems.We are firmly committed to finding new ways to reduce the impact of our products on the environment.

How do your products serve the mission?All of our products are proudly sewn in the USA, which is also where many of the materials are sourced. Our Stretch Fleece and Duluth Double Fleece are made from recycled content fabrics by bluesign certified mills, while our Rain Paw features recycled-polyester mesh. Our Walking Collection is also made with 100% recycled tubular webbing and for the last few years, we’ve been using PLA biodegradable bags made from corn-starch. Additionally, we are proud members of 1% for the Planet, focusing on reforestation efforts.

Plans for the future: While the current bags we use aregood alternatives to poly-bags, but they don’t degrade as easily as we would hope and they aren’t as strong as we would like in daily use. We’ve found a new supplier with an amazing technology for turning cassava (AKA yuca, manioc) starch into bags that are resilient in the warehouse and are certified marine biodegradable. 100% in the wild!

For our second year as 1% of the Planet members, we formed a partnership with the amazing Eden Reforestation Project. Since 2004, they have been reducing extreme poverty and restoring healthy forests by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees every year. Here at GoldPaw, we are setting a goal of planting 1,000,000 trees by January 2022 through this partnership.

How can a retailer get involved?Any education retailers can provide to their customers serves a dual purpose of promoting the product and also making the customers feel great about their purchases. Signage about the partnerships is an easy place to start and we are happy to provide images, stories and details about the partnership. We love working together with our retailer partners. We encourage them to get in touch by reaching out to info@goldpawseries.com to learn more about how they can get involved.

Sustainably Yours

Pedro Bastos, CEO

www.sylitter.com

Company mission: To improve the relationship between cats, cat parents and nature while delivering the most efficient and sustainable natural cat litter.

How do your products serve the mission? Sustainably Yours is made from only two renewable and biodegradable ingredients: cassava and corn. Our specially formulated litters offer unrivaled quick, hard, and dry clumping, which leads to instant and long-lasting odor elimination. Correspondingly, we’ve established an ongoing and long-term profit sharing partnership with the Rainforest Trust — a global organization focused on protecting rainforests around the world. A percentage of every bag sold is donated to this wonderful organization.

Plans for the future: Thanks to our loyal cat-lovers, we’re helping save the planet one litter box at a time. As we continue growing, our goal is to continue raising awareness of our litter. We’re also working to increase accessibility to guarantee that consumers interested in an exceptional litter that offers a positive environmental impact can find it at their local pet shop — whether they live in New York or Hawaii.

How can a retailer get involved?

By reaching out to us at info@sylitter.com, visiting our website, sylitter.com, or check us out on Facebook and Instagram. We have many resources for retailers looking to add an eco-friendlier option for their loyal customers.

Sam Ujvary

Sam is the managing editor of Gift Shop Pets, Museums & More and Party & Halloween Retailer, and is a contributing editor for Gift Shop Magazine. She has a copywriting background and has been in publishing for six years.