SA entrepreneurs’ pet gear brand wins global award 

The local and much-loved pet gear brand Rogz has been accoladed as the “Brand of the Year” at the World Branding Awards 2021-2022 Animalis Edition.

Rogz wins big at international brand awards

For the international and renowned awards over 115 consumers worldwide nominated their favourite brands and Rogz came out tops as the overall winner in the toys category. 

Paul Fuller and Irené Raubenheimer, co-founders of Rogz comment on the award received.

 “It’s an absolute pleasure to win this award. It means Rogz has been able to provide joy and relief to pets (and their owners) in the current difficult environment. For us, it has always been about remaining authentic and doing what we love.” 

Rogz

The Western Cape-based enterprise was founded in 1995 and is a brand that manufactures, designs and distributes pet gear and items to 90 countries worldwide. 

The 26-year-old company had humble beginnings as the founders, who at the beginning, were inspired by their experience scrubbing decks in the Caribbean as they worked on yachts. A simple idea that began in the spare bedroom of their apartment in Cape Town has become one of the world’s favourite pet brands. 

“The whole journey started as an outflow of our days when we used to work on yachts and our sunglasses were our most prized possessions. They had those cords around the neck to keep them from falling off your head and we thought that this was a super cool business idea. So, we decided that we were going to come back home and sell them in Greenmarket square,” adds Raubenheimer.

What started out as a concept for sunglasses grew to pet gear. According to reports, the company employs 250 individuals and has recently brought its manufacturing back to South Africa. 

“We never got into this business with the intention of trying to chase awards, so it is a big award for a boy from Milnerton and a boy from Stellenbosch,” concludes Fuller.

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Featured image: Artem Beliaikin via Unsplash