We now live in a world where attractive $40 water bottles and elevated toothbrushes and dental floss exist. More and more frequently, startups are questioning why pragmatic items have to be hideous to look at, and are offering their own Instagrammable versions (at a price). And in a space where both cats and home design are celebrated, it’s not surprising that cat accoutrements are the next in line for a makeover. Tuft & Paw founder and cat owner Jackson Cunningham was confronted with the reality of atrocious-looking cat furniture after moving in with his girlfriend Vanessa, who is “obsessed with cats.” Arguably, nothing is more unattractive than jewel-toned plastic litter pans and beige carpet-covered scratching posts. “It kind of sucks that there isn’t nice cat furniture,” he says. Enter Tuft & Paw, which sells cat beds, perches, litter box covers, scratching posts, and cat trees. The designs would not be out of place in, say, Kinfolk magazine. From an angled bent plywood cat bed to a wall-mounted minimal strip of dense felt for scratching, it’s an attractive assortment. The design site Dezeen just featured a “cat playground” the company sells. Tuft & Paw sources its goods from about 30 artisans and small manufacturers from around the world. Some of these products have been around for several years, but until now, it was hard to find sleek design specifically for cats, all in one place. Cunningham, whose background is in e-commerce, officially launched Tuft & Paw in October 2016. He is currently bootstrapping the business without investors, but said he would be open to a “strategic partner on the design front.” He also has a company called JJ Suspenders, which he started about five years ago with a friend after they were invited to a wedding and couldn’t find any suspenders that weren’t “really cheap, skinny, [and made from] elastic.” The suspenders are now sold at hundreds of retailers in the US, he says. When Cunningham went poking around in Google’s data to learn more about cat furniture, he found that thousands of people were searching for things like “modern cat trees.” While there are many sites for dog accessories, Cunningham argues that there is more opportunity and sales potential in cat furniture design, since cats climb, need litter boxes, scratch, and like hidey holes to sleep in. “Everybody thinks it’s more niche than it is. But lots of people have cats,” Cunningham says. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 35 percent of American households have a cat. Early on, Tuft & Paw attracted the type of person who’s looking for something very specific, beyond what they can find at their local Petco. “People were like, ‘You don’t have this in stock? Okay, I’ll wait three months. Can I pay extra shipping to get it to me sooner?’ It wasn’t just, ‘I’ll grab something off Amazon,’” Cunningham says. Tuft & Paw is definitely not cheap, though. That angled bed is listed for $699. The most expensive item is a climbing tree for $949; the cheapest is a $49 furry cushion. But people are buying, with sales coming in “faster than I can deal with them,” according to Cunningham. He declined to provide exact sales figures, but he just quit his day job as an e-commerce manager at Wiivv, a startup that 3D-prints shoe insoles and sandals, to focus on Tuft & Paw full time. He envisions Tuft & Paw becoming a “West Elm for cats.” |
