Case Study

From Dog Leashes to a Lifestyle Brand: How Duney Built Merch Their Community Actually Wanted

The Client

Duney started with a problem.

After rescuing their dog, Dune, founders Avery and Sam began sharing their training journey online. One of the tools they regularly used was a slip lead, but they struggled to find one that had the quality, functionality, and design they wanted.

Sam, a mechanical engineer, decided to make one himself.

Avery started using the homemade leash in her social content, and followers quickly took notice. Questions about where they could buy the leash started showing up in the comments.

That was enough to test the idea.

The couple handmade an initial batch of roughly 200 to 250 leashes, built a Shopify store, and launched their first drop on December 1, 2024.

It sold out in four minutes.

The second batch sold out within minutes, too. Then they more than doubled production for the third drop, producing over 500 leashes.

Those sold out as well.

Duney had become a real business.

Growing

Growing Without Losing What Made the Brand Special

Duney’s growth has been almost entirely organic.

Rather than relying on paid advertising, Avery and Sam built the company around an engaged online community, word of mouth, and recommendations from dog trainers who genuinely use and believe in their products.

Today, Duney operates from a Salt Lake City warehouse with a small team that continues to handmake its leashes locally.

As the company grew, however, customers started asking for
something beyond leashes.

They wanted to wear Duney.

The brand had already experimented with merchandise built around a phrase closely associated with Avery and her online community: “Helicopter Dog Mom.”

It resonated because Duney’s audience isn’t made up of casual dog owners. They’re the people who research training methods, spend their weekends hiking with their dogs, obsess over the right gear, and generally make their dogs a significant part of their lifestyle.

As Avery put it, for many of them, “the dog is the hobby.”

That community wanted merch that represented them.

The Challenge

Duney initially used print-on-demand services for its merchandise.

But as the company and community grew, the limitations of that approach became more apparent.

The products needed to feel like Duney.

The team wanted something more elevated, intentional, and higher quality. Most importantly, the merchandise needed to reflect the same attention to detail they put into their handmade leashes.

That’s when Avery began researching local merchandise partners in Salt Lake City and found Huge Brands.

After speaking with several companies, her conversation with Huge Brands stood out. Avery and Sam visited the facility, toured the warehouse, met the team, and decided it was the right fit.

The Solution

The goal wasn’t to simply put the Duney logo on a shirt.

It was to create merchandise people would genuinely want to wear.

Huge Brands helped Duney move beyond its original “Helicopter Dog Mom” concept and develop more brand-focused apparel.

That distinction mattered.

While the original merchandise remained popular, Duney was
hearing from customers who loved the brand but didn’t necessarily identify as a “dog mom.” Some were dog dads. Others simply wanted a way to represent a company and community they had grown attached to.

The result was merchandise designed around Duney itself.

Hoodies and coordinating sweats gave customers a way to wear the brand without feeling like they were wearing promotional products.

And people responded.

Customers began tagging Duney in photos wearing complete branded outfits, creating another organic extension of the community that had
fueled the company from the beginning.

Building Merch

Building Merch People Feel Cool Wearing

Duney’s approach to merchandise is deliberately selective.

Rather than building an enormous catalog, Avery’s vision is a small, curated collection of pieces that feel unmistakably Duney.

That’s particularly important in the pet industry, where branded apparel can easily become gimmicky.

Duney wanted something different.

The goal was apparel that represented the dog community without looking like stereotypical “dog merch.” Customers should want to wear it regardless of whether the person standing next to them knows what Duney is.

The response has captured exactly what the brand was hoping for.

As Avery explained:

“We get a lot of people being like, ‘I feel cool in my Duney hoodie.’ And I’m like, okay. That’s the vibe we want.”

The Result

For Duney, merchandise has become more than another product category.

It’s another way for customers to participate in the brand.

A business that began with a handmade leash in a garage now has customers showing up to events across the country wearing Duney apparel.

At the company’s first New York City pop-up, longtime customers arrived with Duney leashes they’d owned for more than a year and showed up wearing their Duney and Helicopter Dog Mom gear.

For a digital-first company built largely through social media, seeing that community materialize in person was a milestone.

And the merchandise fits naturally into where the company is headed next.

Duney is exploring wholesale opportunities with dog trainers, additional pop-ups, potential retail partnerships, and a carefully curated collection of branded products.

Through it all, the strategy remains remarkably similar to what helped launch the company in the first place:

Listen to the community. Make something great. Put it out
there. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

A Brand is born

A Brand Built by Listening

From the beginning, Duney has allowed its customers to help shape the company.

During its first several product drops, the team surveyed customers about how the leashes performed, whether they met expectations, and what they wanted to see next. That feedback influenced everything from leash lengths to colors and future products.

Merchandise has followed the same philosophy.

Customers asked for it. Duney listened.

Then Duney partnered with Huge Brands to create apparel worthy of the community that helped build the company.

Because great merch isn’t about putting a logo on something.

It’s about creating something people are genuinely excited to put on.