This is my pet project, literally. With my love for dogs and love of music, I set off with a high school pal to launch a charitable line of vintage style rock ‘n roll apparel for dogs called TORU (named after our dogs Tony & Rudy).
THE "SPINAL TAP" APPROACH TO LAUNCHING
To promote the line and create intrigue, Toru launched a fictitious all dog band, LIXX. LIXX promoted Toru's first charitable line benefiting The Good Dog Foundation at SuperZoo in Las Vegas. The band was comprised of certified therapy dogs. The lead singer, Tony (the "to" in Toru), appeared on The Today Show modeling his Good Dog hoodie and gained quite the following on his band's microsite.
RESCUES ROCK THE RUNWAY
In 2009, we took our rock inspired dog apparel collection to the runway as a proud sponsor and creator of Rescues Rock The Runway to benefit Paws 4 You Rescue Inc. at the Mayfair Hotel in Miami, Fl. The event also marked the debut of our line of Rescue Wear - designed to promote awareness for Rescue groups, Adoption and Spay/Neuter programs nationwide with 15% of our retail sales being donated to Paws 4 You Rescue. Local rescues were transformed into super models. The event raised thousands of dollars and all of our models found their forever homes that night. Gaining attention on a national level, our Rescue Wear was featured in Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, FOX news, Modern Dog, The Daily Candy, Animal Planet, and Ladies Home Journal to name a few.
A booklet featuring adoption success stories were given out to all the guests at the benefit.
One year later we published a charitable calendar on Amazon which sold out and raised more funds for our rescues.
VISIT: torudog.com