We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yan Tam. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yan below.

Yan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Happy Floof began as a side hustle during the COVID pandemic, where I made dog bandanas for everyday wear and holidays/occasions. It quickly became popular, but I always dreamed of creating something more unique with my own brand. Around that time, my golden retriever Daisy developed a habit of rolling in dog poop, and cleaning her harness and collar became a never-ending struggle. No matter how many times I washed them, the smell wouldn’t go away.

While shopping for a new harness, I struggled to find an easy-to-clean option that fit Daisy well. Realizing how limited the options were, I decided to rebrand Happy Floof and create my own line of weatherproof walk gear. After researching and speaking with other pet parents, it became clear that a weatherproof set would be ideal for any outdoor adventure or everyday walk. My goal was to combine style with function, and though I knew it would be a challenge, I was ready to take the leap.

The design process was tough, especially when creating the harness. I wanted it to be fully adjustable with multiple clip points to fit dogs of all shapes and sizes. After months of drafting, I found a manufacturer who could bring my vision to life, though it took many prototypes and trial runs. After finalizing the design, I worked with over a hundred dogs to refine the sizing and gathered feedback from pet parents, making tweaks along the way.

Choosing the right colors took weeks of careful consideration, but after finalizing the design, sizing, and colors, we officially rebranded and relaunched. The entire process took just over a year, and the response has been incredibly positive, with customers loving the adjustability and easy-to-clean features of our walk sets. It was a tough journey, especially while juggling my full-time job, but the rewards have been worth it! I’m excited for the future and look forward to creating more functional products to make pet parents’ lives easier!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Happy Floof is a brand designed for the modern everyday dog, combining style, functionality, and durability. Our products are made to last, with a focus on being weatherproof, easy to clean, and fashionable, perfect for daily walks or any outdoor adventure with your dog.

We offer walk sets that include a collar, leash, and harness, all designed with pet parents in mind. Our gear is waterproof and repels outdoor debris, making it ideal for dogs who love to explore. 
Our favorite and most complimented feature about our product is that it’s easy-to-clean which ensures that even the messiest dogs won’t leave you stressed about the mess. Plus, our harness is fully adjustable, ensuring a perfect fit for dogs of all shapes and sizes.

We aim to make life easier for pet parents by providing functional, stylish, and low-maintenance solutions for your floofs

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We currently work with a manufacturer who produces our products. The process of finding the right manufacturer was time-consuming, especially since it was my first experience creating a product from scratch. It involved countless meetings and learning how to effectively communicate our design vision clearly. Another challenge was sourcing high-quality materials. We worked with several vendors to guarantee our manufacturer had access to the best materials for producing our walk sets.

Manufacturing a product has been a huge learning experience and there have been several key lessons along the way:


1. Patience is crucial. The process from idea to final product took much longer than expected. Prototypes, revisions, and finding the right manufacturer all took a majority of the time, but it taught me to embrace the slow and steady progress rather than rushing things.


2. Communication is key. Clear and consistent communication with our vendors and manufacturer was vital. Whether it was discussing changes to designs or adjusting production timelines, keeping an open line of communication helped ensure the process ran smoothly


3. Testing and feedback are invaluable. We worked with over 100 dogs to refine sizing and gathering feedback from pet parents was essential. I learned that no matter how well you think you’ve designed something, real-world feedback can offer insights you might miss.

4. Quality control. Paying attention to the small details, like stitching quality and material durability, is essential to ensuring a top-notch product. A small oversight can lead to big issues later on. Our first official batch actually had a huge quality issue, we were grateful that we caught it early on and resolved it! 


5. Flexibility is necessary. Things don’t always go as planned. Sometimes we hit roadblocks, colors don’t turn out right, or timelines slip. It’s important to be able to adapt and problem-solve as challenges come up.


These lessons have not only shaped my approach to product development but also to running the business overall. There’s no perfect blueprint for running a business, it’s really all about learning as you go, especially when you’re starting from scratch.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

Currently, we sell our products on our own website and Etsy. We are also on a few wholesale platforms for businesses looking to purchase in bulk.
The benefit of having our own website is the ability to fully design it to our liking, it’s like a blank canvas, which is fantastic. However, the challenge is driving traffic to the site, and any website issues, like a malfunctioning feature, can create problems for customers trying to make a purchase.

Selling on Etsy offers more visibility, but the fees can add up quickly, which is something to consider.

We also take part in local pop-up markets, which give us the chance to connect directly with pet parents in our community. It’s a great way for people to meet the face behind the brand, and we feel that’s really important. We’re currently located in Dallas, TX, catch us at a local market in the upcoming spring/summer season!

Right now, we’re working on getting our products into storefronts and small pet businesses, expanding our reach even further.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://happyfloofshop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyfloofshop/

Image Credits

Jeff by Seventh Prodigy Photography