Tsawwassen's Heide Amurri is part of the team behind Ruby Rufus, a new business that's introducing luxury cashmere sweaters and scarves for dogs.
The brand received some big exposure recently thanks to its inclusion in the December issue of O, The Oprah Magazine (in editorat-large Gayle King's column The World According to Gayle) as well as being featured on the Rachael Ray Show.
"It's really quite exciting," said Amurri. She was visiting her daughter, who's a clothing designer in London, one December and saw a lot of very well dressed women walking their dogs, who were wearing not-so stylish sweaters, she said, discussing how the business got started.
"We launched it this year," she said last month. "It took two years to really get everything right. We wanted to launch it properly."
Their dog sweaters are sold in Europe, Canada and the U.S. The team behind Ruby Rufus includes Amurri, her daughter Ruby Rufus Isaacs and Amurri's friend Diane Conn.
"I think we've really hit a unique corner of the market, where we have very stylish [products]. If the trend is black and white and stripes for the year, we are also going to offer black and white and stripes for dogs," Amurri said. "We're going to be very fashion forward, in line with what is on the catwalks for people."
The label is aimed at the "18-80 age group; those who take pride in their appearance but feel it equally important that their dogs and man's best friends, look chic and feel comfortable," the Ruby Rufus website (www.rubyrufus.com) states.
Amurri, who also works full time as a Chapters manager, said her husband walks their two dogs on the dike and has people asking about their sweaters all the time.
The line will be available locally at Ambiente.
