Collier Leeds is Making a Comeback!

In 2007, after a trip to Leeds Castle in England, my mom decided to start her own dog collar business, Collier Leeds. Our family loves our animals and my mom has always had a creative soul so it is very fitting that she found inspiration in her dogs. My mom enjoyed a small-scale, successful business in which our entire family believed, but she decided to take a break from the business in 2011. 

Old Collier Leeds logo

Over the years my mom has been asked by friends, family, and strangers about the business, and my sister and I finally convinced her that it was time to bring it back to life. This weekend we traveled back to Kutztown to help her find inspiration again and take the next steps to relaunching the business. The first big improvement that was made was transforming her old kitchen into a studio. 

My sister and I then looked through my mom's old inventory and helped my mom pick out the first 10 styles that will be available on the new website. Fortunately, she still has a lot of inventory in finished styles, so it was a fun day of admiring all the old styles!

We name all the styles after our beloved animals, remembering that these animals are more than just pets, but part of our family. Below are the winners. These are just the metal patterns that will be affixed to the leather collars - what do you think??

Top picks

Mix of old and new styles on leather

We spent the weekend cuddling with our favorite animals and soon to be Collier Leeds models, Lizzie, Louie, and Stella. We rescued Lizzie from a Cleveland shelter as a puppy and our big, shaggy, muppet is now deaf as a doorknob and still the sweetest dog. Our bichon frise, Louie Vuitton, was a present to my sister and I when we found out we were moving from Cleveland to Kutztown - he doesn't have a mean bone in his body and loves to roll in the mud. Our tiger baby, Stella, is a pitbull that my sister and I fostered after she was found in a dog fighting circle in Philadelphia. Stella lives a very spoiled and happy life with our Aunt and Uncle but we visit her every time we go home to Kutztown.

The Lizzie Muppet

Louis Vuitton Valentino Skanipico Oswald

Baby Stella

My sister and I love going back to Kutztown to recharge and it felt great to have such a productive Collier Leeds brainstorming weekend. We woke up a Sunday and took a family walk with the dogs to wrap up the business talk. The poor dogs couldn't walk over the grated bridges and we all got a kick out of carrying them across.

The date of the Collier Leeds launch is still TBD but expect to see updates over the coming weeks! Although it's very outdated, check out my mom's Collier Leeds blog from 2011. It's pretty old school but she had a blog before blogs were cool!