Page 27 - PET worldwide issue 05/2022

lationships between people and like to extend this in future”. It we are relatively independent of Care products and hygiene items
their dogs. should be borne in mind, however, Asia, at least with our core busi- such as puppy nappies constitute a
that despite the massive increase ness,” stresses a Hunter spokes- key segment in the dog accessories
Sustainability in container costs, products from woman. The intention is to pro- range.
The trend towards sustainability China are often still considerably cure other elements of the as-
has naturally not bypassed ac- cheaper than those from Europe. sortment from European suppli-
tivity toys. Production using recy- “Many consumers are – still? – ers, but unexpected challenges
cled materials such as shredded not prepared to pay more for a are being encountered here. “Our
plastic bottles is not new to the comparable product because it research indicates that the Por-
pet supplies sector, but a growing comes from Europe,” comments tuguese ceramic industry will
number of product ranges made a spokeswoman for Trixie. In ad- be working to more than 100
from natural materials such as dition, sufficient production ca- per cent capacity for the next
ropes and leather strips are being pacity is not yet available here few years, because the demand
offered by pet product retailers. to have the majority of the range is huge, but capacity not yet cor-
Soft toys such as those appropri- manufactured in Europe. respondingly topped up,” reports
ated by canines from children’s the spokeswoman. Summarising
bedrooms and made their own At Hunter, too, more Euro- the situation, she says: “Scarcely
are manufactured by pet product pean manufacturers are being any company will be able to dis-
manufacturers, but are designed included, with a range of dog tance themselves from the Asian
especially for pets and above all beds already being produced market too quickly – the ties and
contain no plastic components here. In addition, all leather the infrastructure developed over
that could splinter or be swal- products such as collars, har- decades are simply too strong
lowed. nesses and leashes are manu- for that.”
factured in house at the compa-
Another aspect of sustaina- ny’s headquarters in Bielefeld. n
bility that is becoming increas- “Thanks to our manufacturing,
ingly important is production in
Europe. The fragility of logistics
paths that was caused by the
pandemic has prompted many
companies to distance them-
selves from manufacturers in
Asia.

The supply chain issue
“Yes, we also want to lessen our
dependence on Asian imports,” is
the news coming out of Trixie, for
example. The company’s range
already features some items pro-
duced in Europe. These include
retractable leashes, harnesses,
beds, transport boxes, dog toys
and treats. Further comments
emerging from Trixie are that
“we are pushing this further; we
already have stakes in suitable
companies in Europe and would

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