





Luxury watch maker Shinola Detroit is known for its strong passion for community and the human spirit. Their zelus commitment to community and quality is common cocktail party chatter around Detroit suburbs and metro cities nationwide. Shinola is bringing the glory of manufacturing back to D-town with new hope, jobs, pride and extremely high-quality luxury pet products designed in collaboration with famed fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
BRUCE WEBER COLLECTION
Bruce Weber famous for his All-American sexy Abercrombie and Fitch ads incorporating pets with American lifestyles, collaborated with Shinola Pet to create a new line of high quality, luxury dog beds and collars. The overall feel of the collection is timeless luxury with clean, contemporary lines, neutral colors and soft textures. Their pet collection is a fun brand extension so you can now add a little Shinola luxury to the whole family including the dog.
View the Bruce Weber photo gallery here
The Large Dog Bed in Briquette is classic, sturdy, soft and luxurious. A water resistant cotton cover (great for any accidents or puppies in training) is filled with goose feathers for a soft, cozy slumber. They were smart to design this with a water-resistant, breathable and bacteria resistant inner liner that protects the feathers and down at a retail price of $230.00.
Shinola’s Signature Foot Ball Collar screams Detroit with classy quality you expect from a luxury brand. The design has a unisex feeling yet leans a little more on masculine side. The brown color is ideal for every day wear and can easily be paired with any color of clothing for easy fashion styling. It’s made from Wickett & Craig’s vegetable-tanned bridle leather and topped off with solid brass hardware for longevity and style. It features a leather keeper and includes a stylish Shinola branded dog tag on the collar. Available in sizes from XS-XL and retails for $80.00.
The Signature Foot Ball Leash is almost mandatory to pair up with the Signature Foot Ball Collar. It’s made from the same Wickett & Craig’s vegetable-tanned bridle leather and brass hardware as the leash to create a cohesive and timeless look. Like all of Shinola’s products they are designed with intelligence and timeless creativity. The leash also includes an elegant “When Nature Calls Pouch” to carry your pick-up bags while on a walk with your dog and retails for $130.00.
Tibetan Mastiff puppy ‘Hong Dong’ (no relation to Long Duck) was recently purchased by a Chinese coal magnate for a whopping 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million USD). We got word of this prodigious puppy purchase from our new buddies down-under at Poochmag.
This mega-gigantic fluff-ball is only 11 months old and already 3 feet tall at the shoulder and over 180 pounds. Wowzers! The Tibetan Mastiff is one of the world’s oldest and rarest breeds – said to have been kept by Genghis Khan and Lord Budhha.
China’s “new rich” have fallen in love with these living, breathing & slobbering status symbols and helped push the prices for purebred puppies into the millions. The previous “most expensive dog” title holder was another Tibetan Mastiff named Yangtze River Number Two purchased for a paltry $500,000 USD in 2009. To make up for the embarrassingly low price tag the owner picked up Yangtze River Number Two in a 30 car motorcade when he was driven home (sigh – 50 cars would have been nicer but 30 will do….)
Hong Dong will have a busy schedule ahead of him with breeders paying upwards of $16,000 USD for a “date with the Donger”.
In unrelated news Max-a-million the “Bionic Dog” is crestfallen after his title as “the million dollar dog” has been made irrelevant.
With a history of designing some of the most luxurious leather trunks in the world (the Bike Trunk, iTrunk and the Krug Champagne picnic trunk) Pinel&Pinel know about leather and exotic skins. And recently they decided to put this knowledge to work for dogs with a colorful selection of collars and leashes made available in leather, crocodile and shagreen. We were left scratching our heads at “Shagreen” as well – only to find out that it is a rare skin made from sharks and stingrays. While the standard stainless steel hardware doesn’t quite match the quality of the skins we will let that slide for now thanks to the wide range of color and textures. Available for purchase by appointment only at the Pinel&Pinel showroom in Paris.
As true dog luxe mavens know the leash and collar marketplace is full of half-stepping attempts at luxury; $200 for a nylon weave collar with a bad Fleur de Lis print and silver painted plastic buckles? I dont think so…
So it is refreshing to see a label take it back to the basics and focus on luxury. Patch & Scott have taken the basic collar & leash and elevated it by customizing the buckles and other hardware accents and using only finest leathers available. The Amalfi (shown at right) collar & leash set is available in Chocolate or Tan calf leather and comes complete with a name tag and gift box. While it will not be setting any streetwear trends with it’s classic looks the high quality workmanship and materials will definitely merit a second look. The Amalfi sets are available to purchase directly from the designer ranging in price depending on size from (£69-£84) and the matching lead goes for (£98).
If your pooch kicks it in fancy-pants Bel Aire rather than Bohemian West Hollywood you should investigate Hedy Manon luxury food bowls. Manon serves up the fanciest feeders around – handmade by skilled craftsman these canine casseroles are then dipped in 18K gold. Each feeder has a glass bowl that can easily be removed from the gold base making it easier for “the help” to clean up after Fluffy’s Breakfast messes. Look at it as another item for your heirs to fight over – but of course we know you plan on leaving it all to Fluffy.
If you want real, honest luxury for your dog, here is the Must-Have for the chilly holidays; The Opus Canine Lilium Aurora Dog Blanket. Opvs Canis is one of the rare designer dog product companies that actually understands the meaning of “true” dog luxury. They have skillfully designed the most decadent and elegant dog blanket we’ve ever seen. This Lodice (fancy Roman term for a villa blanket, who knew?) features two-plys of top grade satin with a Fleur-de-lys pattern woven in the Jacquard technique and is lined with 100% pure cashmere on the other side. Each piece is hand crafted and meant to be treated like a fine household heirloom and generally takes about 6 weeks to be made. Luxury at this level has it’s price and for this piece of luxe-living it is $600.00 USD. Due to their delicate nature the 30″ x 36″ blanket should be dry cleaned only. So no muddy feet on this one!