Upcoming Vendor Booths

This year I'm hoping to set up at more dog events, now that I have a little cargo trailer to haul all of my gear.  Here are two upcoming events that I'll be at:

AKC 2012 Winter Show:

This will be held at the Stampede grounds from February 3-5, 2012.  I hope to have a whole bunch of cotton dog collars completed in time.

More info about the ACK Winter Show is available here:  http://albertakennelclub.org/showtrials.html

Calgary Pet Expo:

This is the first year I'll be trying a booth at the Pet Expo on May 5 & 6.  I've wandered through briefly a couple of years ago and it seemed quite busy.  I'm hoping that it's just as busy at the new location at Canada Olympic Park.  And the best part?  FREE PARKING!!!

More information about the Pet Expo is available here:  http://www.canwestproductions.com/Pet---Calgary

I'll update with additional events as I sign up for them.

Festival of Crafts!

For the past couple of years I have hummed and hawed about getting a booth at the Festival of Crafts here in Calgary, but this year I'm going to give it a shot.  It is certainly a large expense, but I am really looking forward to attending and meeting loads of fellow dog lovers and collar addicts.

The festival runs December 1-4 at the BMO Centre on the Stampede grounds.  More information can be found here:  http://www.festivalofcrafts.ca/about.html

There will be collars, leashes, harnesses, agility slip leads, lure coursing slip leads, hopefully a few cool coats and some cat collars and harnesses.  Other items will include stethoscope covers, pacifier clips and camera neck and wrist straps. 

Tell all of your friends and family and hope to see you there!

Cool Coats Coming Soon-ish

As I sat in my booth at the AKC dog show last week I came to the decision that I would like to try my hand at making cool coats for dogs.  Every dog show and agility event that I go to, I find myself looking at them thinking I would like some for my guys but can't rationalize paying as much as they charge for them.

They can't be that hard to make, can they?  I have the ribbon, thread, webbing, buckles, sewing and embroidery machines.  All I'm missing is the shammy material, which I found wholesale at a fairly reasonable price.  Thanks to two very generous English Mastiff folks, I will be able to ship them from the warehouse to a US address and then they will be carted across the border right to Calgary, reducing the cost of cross-border shipping and making it a feasible venture.

There will be five flavors:  yellow, orange, pink, blue and teal.  Sizing and pricing will come once I have a chance to play with the material and come up with a Nearly Naked Neckwear design.  My brother assisted in coming up with just the coolest name for them which will be unveiled when they are ready for sale.

Summer Plans & News

I finally booked some booths at three dog events for this year here in Calgary:

June 10-12 - I'll be at the 2011 Alberta/NWT Regional Agility Championships which is being held at the Calgary Rugby Union's grounds.

• If anyone has any special requests for custom made / embroidered agility related items I will be taking custom orders.  If anyone has an item they would like duplicated, bring it by the booth and I'll take some measurements / photographs and let you know if I can make it.

July 15-17 - I'll be at the Evelyn Kenny Kennel & Obedience Club's dog show which is being held at the Springbank Park for All Seasons again this year.

• This event is not too far out of Calgary and worth a day trip.  Drop by and say hello if you are attending.  Custom orders welcomed.  Bring cash!  I am no longer accepting cheques or PayPal at events.  If you wish to pay via these methods, your items will be shipped out once playment has cleared and a shipping charge will apply.  Due to the excessive costs for such a small business, I am not currently set up to take debit or credit card direct.

July 29-Aug 1 - I'll be at the Alberta Kennel Club's Summer Classic which is being held at Spruce Meadows for the second year. 

• I'm super excited to be attending this event, especially since Spruce Meadows is a hop, skip & jump from my house in Evergreen.  I believe they have a banking machine somewhere on the grounds, but it was very difficult for customers to find last year.  I made a recommendation to the AKC that they put additional signage up so people can find the portable ATM's.

So what's new? 

Well, for starters I finally purchased that embroidery software I was planning on buying for a long time.  Now I'm trying to figure out how it all works and will be offering embroidery on leashes and fixed agility-type & lure-coursing slipleads only.

Next comes the arrival of something I'm eagerly anticipating, which is a fully enclosed 5x8 ft. Continental Cargo trailer.  It's on order and will hopefully arrive from Colorado within 6-8 weeks.  This will enable me to pack everything (including all 4 of my dogs) and head out to more dog shows and event venues.  Once I get a hitch put on the back of my SUV and figure out how to drive with a trailer, there will be no stopping me!  :)


Find Nearly Naked Neckwear products in two Calgary locations!  Tail Blazers MacLeod (just off of 86th Ave. SE & MacLeod Trail) and Muttley Crue (in Bridgeland) are now carrying Nearly Naked collars, leashes and harnesses!  I'm so excited.

New items I'm working on include:  pacifier clips (embroidery add-on) and camera straps & wristlets.

Long Overdue

We're currently revamping our main website.  Hopefully it will be up and running in a few weeks.  In the meantime you can still place orders or visit our ETSY site to see what is available and ready to ship.  :o)

Industrial Sewing Machines

It took a lot of research and online shopping to come to a decision as to what to purchase for a new industrial sewing machine.  A powerful (and quiet!) motor that will sew through multiple layers of thick materials without bunching the stitches and capable of sewing light to medium weight leather, a walking foot, and large bobbins were some of the things I felt were important.  After much deliberation, it is going to be a JUKI DNU 1541 with a Servo motor.  Soon I hope to have a bunch of new items available, including: belts for humans, camera straps and wristlets, and pacifier clips.  The new 'beast' arrives next week, and I am looking forward to running it almost non-stop.  ;)

Nearly Naked on Etsy

There's not too much to report aside from our new Etsy store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NearlyNakedNeckwear?ref=pr_profile