Ali Ghobadi: Founder, Chewed Slippers: Pet Pro Profile
January 13, 2010 by Paris Permenter and John Bigley
Filed under News
Pet Pro Profile:
Ali Ghobadi: Founder, Chewed Slippers
Every business decides on its name in a different way–but Chewed Slippers came upon its distinctive name in a really unique way: with the help of a dog! The technique, however, fetched the perfect name for the UK-based purveyor of premium pet products and Chewed Slippers was born. Dogtipper.com recently caught up with founder Ali Ghobadi to learn more about this new company featuring everything from ergonomic dog bowls to elegant dog furniture.
Please tell us about ChewedSlippers.com and how you came to found the site.
Chewed Slippers is somewhat of a scratching of a 10-year itch (that started back when I was a youngster at just 18).
My brief spell in dental school didn’t feel quite right and neither did the colourful history of jobs that was to ensue. What was missing was what I value most in life: PASSION and FUN. Because let’s face it, life really is too short to be doddering along doing something you’re not really that in to.
And then a little flea-ridden stray kitten sauntered casually into the back garden in Christmas 2007. The whole family was besotted with little Mina / Molly (we still can’t decide which, but I find she responds best to “Pssst”) and that was all the inspiration I needed … animals were the way forward from then on.
So in April 2008 a little white envelope, containing a nervously written resignation letter, marked the end of my old corporate life and the dawn of a new one!
Can you tell us about the product range at Chewed Slippers and what sets the site apart?
It took over 6 months of absolutely immersing myself in the market to put the product range together; hard work but a lot of fun! I didn’t want to go down the route of other retailers that stock absolutely everything, so I cherry picked the best in the market, from the most passionate of suppliers:
- our dog food is 100% natural and used by trainers, behavioural therapists and vets alike
- our toys include brain training activities to keep minds as well as well bodies fit
- our collars are stunning, contemporary designs, most of which are handmade here in the UK
And so it goes on!
But equally important is our community element. There’s more to life than just providing great products – Petspertise, our blog, aims to entertain, educate and keep everyone up to date with our developments – more about that below.
We understand that Chewed Slippers was named in a unique way! Can you tell us about the naming of the business?
Well, we couldn’t decide between Short & Furry, Chewed Slippers and Prrr Grrr.
Traditional branding protocol would call for focus groups,market research and positioning diagrams. But we thought there must be a more suitable solution …
Step forward Chunky the dog, a cheeky staffy/labrador/boxer cross. He’s bang on the target audience; four legs, a wet nose and a taste for all things canine, and therefore perfectly qualified to cast the deciding vote!
So, armed with three hastily cobbled together t-shirts (and a packet of his beloved digestive biscuits), Chunky walked us down to Primrose Hill (London) to help us decide.
The rest was a ruthlessly scientific exercise of how to present a dog with three equally enticing choices. The T-shirts were white with each of the names printed in black to avoid the influence of colour, and were positioned equidistant from Chunky’s starting point creating the triangle of choice.
With everything in place and the mild drizzle starting to turn to a light shower, decision time was upon us. A couple of false starts later (including Chunky running off in completely the wrong direction), and an energy injection courtesy of three of his biscuits, the choice was made. The nail biting excitement is better conveyed by Chunky’s actions rather than words – the footage can be seen at: www.chewedslippers.com.
So, thanks to Chunky, Chewed Slippers was born. In fact, Chunky did such a great job of choosing our name that we just had to keep him involved – he’s now Chief Buyer and Reviewer, prolific blogger on Petspertise and notorious Twitterer!
What else would you like the readers of DogTipper.com to know about ChewedSlippers.com?
As I touched upon above, Chewed Slippers is more than just about retailing great products. Our blog, Petspertise, is there to entertain through Chunky’s inane canine musings, to help people gain a better understanding of our products and their pets (our panel of Petsperts® are awaiting questions!) and to provide a platform for people to voice their opinions.
This is a crucial part of Chewed Slippers – interactivity. We’re pretty confident we have most of what Fido could ever dream of, but we definitely think we can do better with the help of our visitors. We would love to know what they want us to provide (even if it doesn’t exist yet), how they want to be able to buy it (is the website working as well as it could?) and how they’d like it delivered. And anything else on their minds … we want to know their thoughts so that we can make Chewed Slippers the best purveyor of premium pooch products in the UK!
For More Information:
Website: www.chewedslippers.com
Blog: www.chewedslippers.com/petspertise
Email: hello@chewedslippers.co.uk
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Chunkythedog
Photos courtesy Chewed Slippers
About Paris Permenter and John Bigley
DogTipper publishers Paris Permenter and John Bigley are a husband-wife team of full-time writers. The couple has authored over two dozen books and 2,500+ magazine articles.
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