Everett business that makes fashionable dog collars earns priceless publicity

  • By Jim Davis The Herald Business Journal Editor
  • Friday, September 11, 2015 3:36pm
  • Business

EVERETT — It didn’t look like a hoax email, but then it did look too good to be true.

Heather Cherewaty and Abby Wait own Olive + Atlas, an Everett business that makes hand-crafted, fashionable dog collars, leashes and soon, harnesses and blankets.

The pair started the business just a year ago and sell their wares online, at the Everett Farmers Market and plan to sell their items this fall at Paddywack pet store in the Mill Creek Town Center.

And then, they received the email.

An assistant for television personality Lilliana Vasquez last month wanted a couple of the dog collars — the Mill Creek and Columbia styles — to give as birthday gifts to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb on the “Today Show.”

“It was one of those things,” Cherewaty said. “Is it too good to be true? It was very professional and she gave us lots of information and lots of points of contact, but we were just shocked.”

Vasquez had found the dog collars on Instagram and wanted the leather collars with fabric overlays for Gifford’s dog Bambino and Kotb’s dog Blake. The show aired on Aug. 5.

“We’ve had a lot of Internet traffic coming,” Cherewaty said. “We’ve had a pretty nice response to having the show aired.”

It’s a boost for a business that’s still just launching.

Cherewaty and Wait met while working out at the CrossFit Everett in downtown Everett. Cherewaty, 30, is originally from New Jersey and moved here when her husband got a job at Boeing. (He’s since moved on to another aerospace company.)

She was working as a technical writer at a Bothell biotech firm when she decided she wanted to go into business for herself. She invited Wait to be her business partner.

“I think she knew she wanted to do something dog related and what it came down to is I had a little bit of sewing experience, I think I told her I could make a dog collar,” said Wait, 26, who continues to work as a dental hygienist in Mukilteo.

Last August, they started making the collars, experimenting with leather obtained from local stores and fabrics like Pendleton Wool. Together, they came up with 11 styles of dog collars and made the creations in a shop behind Cherewaty’s Everett home. They named the styles after Pacific Northwest locales like Mill Creek, Alki Beach and Nob Hill.

“That was an idea that we both had to kind of stick to our roots and where the business is from,” Wait said.

And the business was named after their two dogs, Olive, a French bulldog, and Atlas, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, border collie, cattle dog mix. The motto for the business is, ‘Where the sidewalk meets the trail.’

“My dog Atlas is more of the rough and tumble one,” Cherewaty said. “Oliver is more a sidewalk kind of dog. Atlas jumps straight into the river. Olive takes naps in the sun.”

Wait’s sister, Evelyn Kritler, 21, a graphic artist, developed a logo for the company. The metal logo is attached to each collar. In May, they started selling the collars at the Everett Farmer’s Market.

“I love it when people whip out their phones and show us pictures of their dogs,” Cherewaty said. “It’s a meaningful way to connect with another human being.”

They’ve committed to donating $1 from each collar and leash to nonprofits: the Old Dog Haven in Lake Stevens and Project Canine, in Seattle.

Wait put their designs on social media sites like Instagram. The pair were just getting their website, oliveandatlas.co, together when they received the message from the Today Show. While their collars was one of several gifts given to the hosts, Cherewaty and Wait were happy about the recognition.

“It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been reassuring to both of us,” Cherewaty said.

They hope the boost can help the business continue to grow.

“We’ve had a phenomenal response,” Cherewaty said. “We’re not growing so quickly that we can’t keep up, but we’re keeping steady.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.