We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Freeman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The Lumi dog harness started from humble beginnings with only 1 goal initially, to help my own dog who is going blind. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I ended up creating something that is beneficial for every dog owner in the world because it has so many unintended benefits. Lumi has become a movement and we have my dog Sloan to thank for it.

Sloan is a rescue and was found on the streets of Hollywood, CA. As soon as I saw him, I knew Sloan was my dog and I would make sure he got to the live the best life he could. A number of years ago I started to question how good his eyesight was because he was exhibiting all the signs of impaired vision. My assumptions were correct and Sloan has a hereditary condition called PRA (Progressive retinal atrophy) where a dog’s eyesight deteriorates over time. When it starts to go, it is most noticeable at night because their night vision is what goes first. Back in 2022, his vision had become so poor that he started to refuse to go outside at night. He was scared, bumping into and tripping over things, and his eyes just couldn’t focus as soon as it was dark. During the day he was perfectly fine, but at night it was another story altogether. That’s where I got the idea to try to find something to light up his path and help him see at night. I assumed there had to be some kind of a product out there to help because I couldn’t be the first person to have a dog who is going blind. I looked online, in stores, etc. and I couldn’t find anything that would help him. I found light up dog harnesses, but nothing that actually helped him or me see any better at night. I realized then that I would have to make my own. I have an engineering background in the racing world and even build custom motorcycles for fun today, so I knew I would figure at least something out to help him. That’s when I made the first Lumi dog harness.

Using a 1000 Lumen- flexible LED light attached to a service dog harness, the light across Sloan’s chest lit up his line of sight perfectly. The LED has 270 degrees of coverage and it lit up everything in front of him. The very first night we used it, he did great and he had all of his confidence back. No tripping or bumping into things, it was awesome. By the second night, half of my neighborhood had approached me asking for me to make them one for their dogs. Not because their dogs were going blind, because they weren’t, but for safety reasons. The LED is so bright that it can be seen clearly from 1/4 mile away. We live in LA where drivers love to speed through the streets at night, and now they can see us from a far enough of a distance away to slow down and not hit us. We also have a big issue with coyotes in my neighborhood, and the LED scares them away almost instantly. Especially when you are using the flashing function on the LED which flashes like a strobe light. People could also see things on the ground that their dogs may want to try to eat, and they could see where their dogs went potty. The list goes on and on of reasons why people love the harness, and it all started because my little dude is slowly losing his eyesight.

Jeff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jeff Freeman and I am the inventor of the Lumi dog harness and founder of Lumi Pawtners, LLC. Making pet products for a living is not what I thought I would be doing at this point in my life. I created the first one simply to help my dog, and it exploded in popularity all on it’s own. Growing up in LA, I was exposed to a lot more than the average bear and I have always been especially creative. I excelled in school, finishing high school a couple years early and became a college student at 16 years old. Following my passion was always important and I gravitated towards racing and learning how to build a car from the ground up. I have a natural aptitude for all things mechanical, and engines just made sense to me even from a young age. I knew I would never become wealthy going this route, but I loved it and that mattered more to me than money. I started wrenching as a teenager and progressed to where I was working for Ferrari and even restoring cars as prestigious as Nikki Lauda’s 1973 formula 1 car. (That car was even used in the Ron Howard movie “Rush”). At age 30 though, that’s when I feel like my brain finally woke up. Since then I have created/invented over 200 things, reorganized the family business and have hundreds of more ideas for things to create/invent. Everything from green technology to special tools to the Lumi dog harness. And I am just getting started.
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I am really excited about Lumi and the potential future ahead of me. This project has humble beginnings but it really could help every single dog owner on the planet. We all have to walk our dogs when it is dark at some point. As people, our night vision isn’t the best, and the Lumi dog harness is the best hands free flashlight you could ask for when walking your dog at night. It really lights up everything in front of you, its not a gimmick. The harness is also the best thing for dog’s like mine who suffer from PRA, which affects millions of dogs all over the world. Mostly though, being seen by cars, trucks, motorcyclists, etc. from 1/4 mile away will help to keep people and their dogs safe when going out at night. Our whole focus of the brand is safety for both you and your pup, and I hope to share this with as many people as we possibly can.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Lumi is still a new brand and we are still building our reputation, but we came out of the gates swinging hard. Our dogs mean the world to us and we knew that if we were going to start this venture, that we had to do it right. We didn’t want to be just another brand on the shelf of your local pet store. Lumi is on a mission to make a real difference in people’s lives and we are off to a great start. There are a few critical factors to build your reputation and the first was releasing quality products. Everything we make is not only 100% sustainable, but you can tell we spent a lot of time perfecting the designs to make them user friendly, durable and as comfortable as possible for your dogs. They also have to look good and we made sure to use fashionable colors that are also distinct from anything else on the market today. When it came to safety, we made sure to use fabrics that were waterproof, tear proof, and fireproof while still being lightweight. The next thing in building our reputation was our niche. There are other harnesses and collars for walking at night, but they tend to be poorly made, poorly lit and they don’t do anything to help you or your dog see any better at night. They seem to be made with minimal effort or consideration for what walking at night is actually like. Lumi addresses all of these issues and made it safer for both dog owners and their pets when walking in the dark. Our lights are comfortable and safe for your pets to wear, and make a huge difference when you’re out walking at night. We also offer a 1 year warranty on all of our products and stand by what we release into the market. Most of all though, our reputation will build because we actually care about what we are releasing into the world. This project isn’t about trying to capture a piece of the pet market, but to make it safer for people and their dogs together.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Lumi launched in April of 2024 officially and we have grown our audience organically. There were a few influencers that we reached out to and who agreed to help us create and post new content, but all of our popularity has grown organically. People seem to really respond to our mission and some videos have gone viral all on their own reaching as high as 4.4 million views. We have created something the market needs and our following shows it by growing daily.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.discoverlumi.com
• Instagram: lumi.pawtners
• Youtube: Lumi Pawtners