We were lucky to catch up with Megan and Marissa White recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan and Marissa , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

Our mission at KC Pups and Pals has always been to help shelter animals in need. We donate a portion of each of our sales to local animal shelters in our area. We have also donated bandanas in a variety of sizes and prints to two local organizations, Wayside Waifs and Pawportunities, to use to take photos of their shelter dogs in, as a way to promote them on social media in hopes to get them adopted. They also get sent home with newly adopted pups and their new owners!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Our business, KC Pups and Pals, began during the summer of 2021. I, Megan, am a 1st grade teacher, and have the summers off, and was looking for a summertime project to keep me busy. My sister, Marissa and I were walking through the craft aisles of Walmart one day and saw a row of colorful quarter squares of fabric and a flier with ideas of how to use them. One of the ideas was a bandana to tie on your dog. That gave the two of us an idea. We both have dogs of our own. I have a husky mix, named Aspen, and she has a French Bulldog, named Winnie. We thought this would be a fun sewing project for the two of us to work on, and would also make for cute pictures of our dogs.

I got home and started looking up bandana patterns. I had tried to put Aspen in bandanas before, with no success, as he usually chewed through the tie and pulled the bandana off entirely. I thought there must be a way of attaching the bandana to his collar somehow, so that he could not remove it and chew on it. And sure enough, I found a pattern online for an over-the-collar bandana. And that is where it all began!

The bandana that slid over the collar worked perfectly for Aspen and Winnie! I made a few more in various prints for our pets and realized I might be onto something! My best friend, Emily, who is also a teacher, did a project with her students that promoted dogs at a local shelter, Wayside Waifs, in hopes to help get them adopted. I knew that Covid-19 had shut down the shelters in our area and dogs had been there waiting to be adopted for quite some time.

I thought if I reached out and offered to make a special bandana for each dog up for adoption with their name on it, the shelter could post pictures of them and get them some positive publicity. When I contacted the shelter, they were so excited about the idea! I got to work right away! I looked at photos of each dog up for adoption and used scrap donations of fabric to make various sizes. About 10 days later, I dropped off 60 bandanas to the shelter. I used my summer to make around 100 more to donate. By the time summer was over, almost every dog that I had made a personalized bandana for had been adopted. Wayside Waifs posted some photos about my donation and I started having people reach out to me asking for personalized bandanas for their dogs, and asking how much I charge. My sister has a fashion merchandising and marketing degree, and this is where she joined in on the fun! She started an Etsy shop, designed a logo that incorporated the silhouettes of our two dogs, worked on packaging, set pricing, and photographed bandanas for the website. And just like that, we were up and running!

Today, we have made over 1000 sales on Etsy, and have participated in 25 local vendor craft fairs, including The Strawberry Swing. We also have our products featured in 3 local small businesses, The Mixed Mutt Creamery, Cuddle Up Pup Doggie Daycare, and Mission Driven Goods. We have expanded our product line from only bandanas, to bowties, t-shirts, and other dog related merchandise! Even though our business has changed and evolved rapidly over the last year and a half, the mission at the heart of the business remains the same, as we continue to donate a portion of our proceeds to local animal shelters and organizations.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

We are not only business partners/cofounders, we are sisters! We are 5 years apart in age and have been best friends our whole life. We have pretty much done everything together; from competitive dance, to school events, to craft projects at home. We have both always had a deep love for creating things, as well as for animals. We figured that with Marissa’s business background, and Megan’s creative side, the two of us would make a great team!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

We love keeping in touch with clients who have purchased our products! The easiest way to do this is though our social media accounts! We have a Facebook and an Instagram where clients can keep up with our upcoming events, as well as new product drops! When a client purchases a bandana or bowtie from us, we encourage them to take photos of their dog (or cat) and tag us in them on social media so that we can feature them on our page! We have found that everyone loves seeing their very own pet sporting their new gear on our pages! We also offer free shipping and local drop offs to customers who live nearby. We love getting to drop off client orders and see the smiles they bring to each owner and their pet!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KCPupsAndPals
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kcpupsandpals
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcpupsandpals
• Other: https://linktr.ee/Kcpupsandpals

Image Credits
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