Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Whitney Persek. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Whitney, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The name of my company came way before there was even the idea of an equestrian business in my head. I have always loved horses, ridden horses all my life, and loved the lifestyle. I love the look of being an equestrian. I think it is classic and can lend itself to many different aesthetics, even if you aren’t a rider. Back in 2018 my family (husband, daughter, son and I) were moving from California to New Zealand. I was thinking of creating an instagram account to post and blog about our journey of becoming expats in another country. I kept thinking of all of these names that could sum up our family but still be a name that could hold up on its own. I love the idea that something or someone can be both strong and delicate, hard and soft. I see myself as someone who has both. I love being girly but I am tough and don’t mind getting dirty when I need to. Being an equestrian, to me, is all about getting in the thick of it: mucking stalls, cleaning horses, being sweaty and dirty. Then the other side is pristine, graceful, classic and elegant. It is this amazing mix of strong, powerful, and beautiful all rolled into this amazing package. I played around with a lot of names and I thought of my first horse who was a dapple grey and that has always been my favorite color. I played around with the word Dapple and then Dapper came to mind. I looked at my son and always thought he looked very dapper. Then I looked over at my daughter and always called her my little darling or I would say oh my darling. That’s really how Dapper Darling came to be. My son is the Dapper and my daughter (now daughters) are the Darling. Now I had the name but I needed a logo. Keeping with the equestrian theme, I chose a D-bit snaffle and designed the flowers as the center portion, keeping with my hard and soft theme.

Whitney, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Our family had recently moved on to horse property in North Carolina. I was buying horse treats for my horses and noticed how many ingredients that were unfamiliar to me in the products. I started making my own sugar treats and an apple-based hard cookies for my horses, goats and donkeys. I gifted some to a friend who shared the item with store owner Valerie Breslow, of Equestrian Wellness, over at Tryon International Equestrian Center. She fell in love with them and asked if she could carry some in her store. She was the one who inspired me to create a gluten-free horse cookie, specifically for riders who have Celicac’s disease and cannot touch most horse treats. Once I made a few necessary changes to the treat recipe, the business started to take off. More and more riders were interested in the treats, not only because of the unique gluten-free recipe but because they were a healthy, cute, and tasty treat for their horses and ponies. I pride myself on using organic and local ingredients when available and making a low sugar treat using real fruits and vegetables. I want you to feel good about what you are treating your horse. I did a few pop-ups and a lot of the feedback that I received was about my logo. What became interesting to me was how many people, riders and not, loved my logo. I tested out a few sweatshirts with my design and they were a huge hit and local markets. Now we have expanded to logo mugs, jewelry, tees and sweatshirts.  I never thought I would have my own company let alone, a horse lifestyle brand. It wasn’t even on my radar but I am so thrilled with how people have been enjoying all the Dapper Darling items.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

One of my biggest selling points is that I make everything myself. I make the treats, I stamp the bags, I package, label and ship everything. I had a lot of trial and error in the beginning, especially with making the treats. I wanted the sugar treats and hard biscuits to have a long shelf life while still maintaining my high quality standards. I worked with a lot of different flours to get the right consistency and I have definitely messed up a few times by adding too much of this or too little of that. That goes the same with my sugar treats. Those are more finicky and I have a unique drying process to make sure they hold their shape. My horses are my taste testers and they let me know right away which ones are winners. While not giving away my secrets on my cookies and treats, just know I take a lot of care in making each treat to perfection. If it is not up to my standards, I don’t include it in the packaging. My horses, goats, dogs and donkeys have enjoyed a lot of my mistakes.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

Once the business started to grow and people were wanting to purchase my items outside of local markets and pop-ups, my husband, who is my partner in this venture , and I needed to decide between building our own website or going through a reputable company. We opted for the website, Etsy, because it handled a lot of the backend things that I wasn’t completely comfortable with as a new business. Their business model for crafters is easy to set up, use and it is pretty straightforward. The risk on my end was relatively low and I didn’t need to worry about getting a domain name or setting up a website. Etsy also has a really big following and has so many active buyers. I either get buyers coming directly from my social media accounts or from people searching directly on Etsy. My customers also feel comfortable shopping on Etsy which helps me out as a new business. The cons of using Etsy, to me, would be the fees and how they have been increasing over the past few years. I think that would be my biggest con and as the business grows, would be the determining factor if I decide to start my own website.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @the.dapper.darling
• Other: Etsy.com/shop/DapperDarlingEquine

Image Credits
Whitney Persek, Dustin Persek