Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurren Darr.
Laurren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been termed a plumb-pug crazy pet fashionista for quite some time. The roots stem from my childhood when my family took in our first rescue pug named White Pines Tuttie. She became my best friend. I would dress her, put clippy earrings on her, and push her around the block in a linen laundry cart. The kicker was that I had lipstick from my grandmother and would put lipstick on Tuttie. I wrote about this in my children’s book “Lipstick On A Pug” which won the Children’s Book of the Year Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writers Association of America.
From there I’ve had several rescue pugs and a career in marketing. Everything came together when I went to Pet Fashion Week in NYC around 2008. I looked around for a trade association and visited a fashion school and found that there was little education, tools, or networking for people interested in pet fashion. When I found that one was never developed, I launched International Association of Pet Fashion Professionals in 2013. It was in 2008 that I published my first pug children’s book also – a revamping of nursery rhymes to include our pugs called “Mother Pug Rhymes.” That’s bloomed into the pug fairy tale series.
My goal is to create educational tools for the pet fashion world so that the industry expands and others can experience the wonderful bond and connection I’ve had with my pets through pet fashion. Many of those planned tools are books that could be used in a fashion curriculum.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road. One major struggle that I had starting out was the ‘who do you think you are’ mentality. While I was mostly welcomed with open arms because the majority of people in the pet industry are fantastic, wonderful folks that you’d enjoy hanging out with, there are just a few prickly ones. When I was creating the first “Pet Business Planning Almanack” and asked a designer if she’d be interested in reviewing it, she was fairly nasty within email asking what my credentials were to help people. I saw my lifelong love of pet fashion and marketing background as assets to pet fashion professionals. Apparently, she didn’t. That book has been a benefit to many and we’ve published it for going on five years now.
I also decided in 2014 to attend the FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) program to become certified in the Pet Product Design and Marketing Program. That was a rough couple years of traveling each week to New York City for classes while still managing a household and my son’s budding stock car racing career. I was extremely happy when that was complete!
Overall, finding the time to balance all of my projects with family and traveling to racetracks is the ongoing struggle. I think everyone has that as a challenge in business, though.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with International Association of Pet Fashion Professionals and Left Paw Press – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
International Association of Pet Fashion Professionals is an organization created to provide educational tools and program to those aspiring to have a career in pet fashion. We are known for the marketing support that we provide through books like the “Pet Business Planning Almanack” and for trend expertise based on interviews, articles, and the “Pet Fashion Industry Patterns” book. I’m regularly asked to comment or write about pet fashion by magazines, etc. The publishing imprint, Left Paw Press, has actually expanded beyond pug children’s book and pet fashion to now also include adult coloring books, race history and children’s books, and medical books specific to my husband’s (Brad Tinkle) expertise with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
I’m really proud of the elevated attention that pet fashion has gotten the past couple years. I would like to think that the efforts of IAPFP have had something to do with that. Even Jimmy Fallon had a segment on dog Halloween costumes on the other night. Personally, I was very proud to finish the “Pet Fashion Industry Patterns” book this year. It was in the making since at least 2013 and finally came together. I love the wonderful illustrations done by my fashion illustrator Florina Boldi, the layout, and the information that is jam-packed in a delightfully designed package.
What sets us apart from others is that we are creating things for a niche that has been either ignored or considered too small for larger publishing houses, etc. Pet fashion is coming into its own by showing that it’s not only energetic and fun but practical in so many ways. We are filling a need for the people in the industry and that makes me proud… and it sets us apart.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I like best about our city is the diversity of cultures and businesses here. There are many hidden gems that you happen upon when you travel around – especially in the outskirts. It probably goes without saying, but what I like least is the traffic (isn’t that everyone’s beef?!) and the reputation that Chicago seems to have in the national media these days. We travel a lot with my son’s (Zachary Tinkle) racing and when they hear you’re from the Chicago area, they get this look on their face. You know where the conversation is going to go. We tell people that they can’t believe everything they hear, etc.
Contact Info:
- Address: 8926 N Greenwood Avenue #293
Niles, IL 60714 - Website: www.PetFashionProfessionals.com and www.LeftPawPress.com
- Email: info@leftpawpress.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurrendarr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PetFashionProfessionals or https://www.facebook.com/LeftPawPress
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurrendarr
Image Credit:
Photos by Michele V Wagner Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
