LIVERPOOL — Last fall, when Kelsey Harvey adopted her first dog Maya, she realized she wanted to give more to the animal-rescue community. “We just love her — she’s just part of the family, you know?” Harvey says of the one-year-old Tibetan-Spaniel mix. “I just can’t imagine her out on the streets or living out […]
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LIVERPOOL — Last fall, when Kelsey Harvey adopted her first dog Maya, she realized she wanted to give more to the animal-rescue community.
“We just love her — she’s just part of the family, you know?” Harvey says of the one-year-old Tibetan-Spaniel mix. “I just can’t imagine her out on the streets or living out of a dumpster.”
On Feb. 8, Harvey actualized that goal and opened up Barklyn Grace — an online store that sells pup-branded apparel and donates 10 percent of the profits to animal-rescue organizations.
Harvey, 24, is a Liverpool resident who works full time as a marketing consultant for Galson Laboratories, an industrial hygiene analysis lab in DeWitt.
Barklyn Grace is a one-woman project — Harvey is the founder, CEO, sole owner and only employee, and dedicates her free time to the business. She graduated from SUNY Oswego in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, though she focused more on marketing during her collegiate studies.
On Barklyn-Grace.com, Harvey sells several different dog-themed shirts priced from $15.99 to $32.99, as well as water bottles for $21.99, a coffee mug for $17.99, and a baseball cap for $24.99. Since opening up shop on Feb. 8, she’s had to foot startup costs totaling upwards of $650. The site averages 300 visitors each week and had generated a total sales volume of nearly $3,800 as of mid-April, Harvey says.
Since its February launch, Barklyn Grace has donated to Hope for Paws, a Los Angeles–based animal-rescue organization. The nonprofit is run by a husband and wife duo who keep their followers updated by posting videos of rescues, rehabilitations, and adoptions. Most of the stories are heartwarming — dogs cowering in bushes are rescued, cleaned up, and cared for in a story with a happy ending. Occasionally, that’s not the case, and Hope for Paws rescues a dog a little too late. Harvey has personally admired Hope for Paws since before starting her business, and that’s why she chose it as the first organization toward which she’d designate Barklyn Grace’s donations.
“Hope For Paws devotes all their time and effort to rescuing these homeless and sick dogs from dumpsters, ditches, under bridges, on the side of the road, under cars, or wherever it may be,” Harvey says. “They feed them, clean them, medicate them, and rescue them wholeheartedly, and that is exactly the goal we wanted to be a part of.”
Harvey says the name Barklyn Grace emerged from a brainstorming process where she tried to use “dog-related words” to create a name that would flow, and also sound like an actual brand, she says. Her clothing brand is similar to Vineyard Vines, a preppy clothing retailer based on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts — except the featured logo is of a dog instead of a whale. Vineyard Vines is known for its pastel colors and yacht-bound vibes, and is popular on college campuses.
That range of 18- to 25-year-olds is precisely the age group Harvey says she’s targeting.
“I feel like graphic T-shirts are very in right now,” Harvey says. “I wanted to form a brand that would appeal to the younger demographic.”
Social media has been an avenue Harvey’s pursued, and it seems to be working — Barklyn Grace’s Instagram account has nearly 3,800 followers and each post generates about 400 likes. Harvey does all the design work herself, and says she’s received nothing but positive feedback since opening.
At this point in the business’s short lifespan, Barklyn Grace is donating solely to Hope for Paws. But Harvey says she’s exploring local animal-rescue organizations and clothing vendors to solicit as Barklyn Grace gains traction. As Harvey explores the evolution of Barklyn Grace’s brand, she says she’s not in a position to open up a storefront anytime soon, but is considering the possibility of a warehouse space in the future. For now, she’s content operating the business from her apartment.
“It’s scary because you don’t know what it’s going to become,” Harvey says of the startup business. “If it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. But it’s fun for me — and it’s for a good cause.”
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