Congratulations Pomppa!
The year 2018 is a jubilee year for Pomppa, featuring a ten-year anniversary and the colorful design Kymppi (meaning 10 in Finnish).
The first Pomppa range was launched at the Agility World Championships 2008 in Helsinki, but Meri, the owner and designer of the company, made the very first Pomppa coat for her Löwchen Kira and Poodle Piippa. – The dog clothes on the market simply weren’t good enough, so I began making them myself, Meri says. It wasn’t long before other dog owners began asking about the coat, and so Meri decided to design the perfect ready-to-wear dog coat as her textile engineer diploma work.
The end result, and Pomppa’s first product, was PerusPomppa. Its carefully designed details, such as the big collar, broad abdominal panel and back vent, are repeated in all Pomppa clothes to this day. – The most demanding thing in dog clothing is that it needs to provide as good coverage and warmth as possible, yet without disturbing the dog, Meri explains. At the moment, the Pomppa range includes three different coats, KevytPomppa, PerusPomppa and ToppaPomppa, as well as the dog sweater JumppaPomppa, which was introduced this season.
Today, the Finnish brand Pomppa is sold in 18 countries. The goal is to expand the market much further. – I am an entrepreneur at heart, I need to do things myself and on my own terms. I constantly strive to improve, while staying true to Pomppa, Meri concludes. – The development work in regard to the products’ design, materials and colours is continuous. The goal is to expand the Pomppa range as soon as possible.
In a decade, there is room for success as well as failure. In the beginning, the economic situation was challenging for a long time. – You just had to learn how to steer a successful business, Meri says. As the worst setback, Meri mentions the year 2009: due to an unfortunate selection of materials, the entire production of that year was ruined. – It was crash and burn in the course of one day. We had to sort out customer feedback even two years after the incident.
– The best thing is the amazing positive feedback we get from our customers. And the feeling that this is such a strong idea that it will carry us forward. As her hopes for the future of the company, Meri lists increasing the number of personnel and establishing a Pomppa headquarter, which would gather all Pomppa activities under one roof. As far as her own hopes are concerned, the mother of two-year-old Minttu longs for a proper summer holiday, as well as returning to agility training with her Mudi Hoppu.
