By Terri Spilman
As their kids flee the nest, four Carmel moms have reinvented themselves by migrating from the ball field to the board room with their start-up designer gifts, accessories and pet product company, A Polka Dot Life.
“We all got to the same point where we wanted to do something. The kids were getting older. We knew we were smart enough to do some kind of business. For years, we were wracking our brains,” said Tanna Hanger.
She and her longtime friends Marcia Morgan, Lisa Hammons and Leslie Theofanis were finally inspired to make designer dog collars after attending a pet blessing in celebration of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
“From there, we just thought, ‘Everyone loves their dogs.’ So we googled ‘How to make a dog collar,’ made a demo and we added a cross because of the blessing,” Hammons said.
“Each of us is a blessing to the other,” is the phrase the group chose to appear on tags attached to each collar as a reflection of the joy that pets give their owners.
The group’s friendship was cemented through their sons, who have been best friends from early childhood. So it was a natural transition as they pooled their individual talents of sewing, designing and writing along with their unwavering love for dogs to create the fun, brightly-colored collars embellished with lots of ribbons and their namesake polka dots.
After selling the collars through word of mouth and pet fests, demand was growing to the point that it was more than the group could physically keep up within the confines of Hammons’ basement – which currently serves as the company headquarters. A portion of the collar production is now outsourced to an Indiana-based family commercial sewing business.
Their reach has expanded beyond Indiana with boutiques in Chicago and New York offering their products.
“I just love seeing how adorable all the dogs look in their collars,” Morgan said. “It just makes us very happy to see how cute they look.”
A Polka Dot Life products can be found at local pet boutiques as well as Amazon.com, Etsy.com and through their website.
“We have a rule that we are friends first and business is second. We’ve really kept that in mind at all times. That’s helped us a lot because each of us are a blessing to the other.”
For more information visit www.apolkadotlife.com.
