Seventh Avenue savvy unleashes 'Rockport Dog'
Rockport resident Laura DeLuca used lessons learned from years in high-end fashion marketing to help fund a school. DeLuca's non-profit venture is Rockport Dog, a pet accessories brand with a product line consisting of just two items, but if those items — a dog collar and a key fob.
The non-profit cooperative, established in Rockport in 1972, will receive 100 percent of all profits made by the sale of Rockport Dog products. The crisp, colorful designs feature local hometown motifs such as lobster traps and seagulls, and were a labor of love for DeLuca, a mother of two, whose oldest daughter, Lila, is a student at Sandy Bay Preschool.
"At my first school meeting," said DeLuca, "parents were discussing past fundraisers for the school. Since I have a product merchandising background, I thought to myself: I need to come up with a product that is inspired by Rockport, something unique, that people want and can't get anywhere else, and I immediately came up with Motif No. 1, which I feel symbolizes quintessential New England seaside living."
Her background in fashion marketing came in handy. With eight years at Tommy Hilfiger's New York headquarters, followed by a stint with Reebock in Boston, DeLuca knows what sells.
"There are lots of dogs in Rockport, so I thought I'd come up with a dog collar. I found a manufacturer out of Rhode Island that produces high-end dog collars, called to see if they would do a custom job, and they said yes. I sketched a design and sent it to the company and from there we went back and forth until a prototype was made. The finished product was shipped to me this past Friday."
DeLuca, who sells real estate with By the Sea Sotheby's International Realty, moved with her husband to Gloucester in 2001, after falling in love with Cape Ann's natural beauty and laid-back living.
"The manufacturing process was fun," said DeLuca. "It took me back to my old days in the fashion world." Not that she has any plans of returning. The Ohio native and ex- big city careerist loves her new hometown, and Rockport Dog is her way of "giving back 100 percent to the school." Rockport Dog products made its sales debut at the PTO fair this past Saturday, are on sale today at the Sandy Bay Thanksgiving Feast (see Rockport Goings On), and are also sold at Lattof Farm on Main Street in Rockport. The collar comes in 3 sizes and retails for $22. The key fob retails for $11.
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