One day in 1992, our Slip-On bandana came to be, at the behest of my then little niece, Tia. As a baby, Tia learned to pull herself up and stand using the patient Golden Retriever that always watched over her. Tia investigated the outside world around our home under the protective eye of that same big amicable retriever. I have no doubt that Tia and Erica shared a dog toy or two and, no doubt, more than a few snacks, as they were best friends. Not surprisingly, as Tia grew up, each of our dogs in turn, came to love this wonderful little person who brushed and bathed them and fed them treats and took them for walks. (Our Miniature Schnauzer did, nevertheless, balk at being taken for a ride in the doll stroller, attired in a pair of frilly panties, pink sun dress and a bright colored sun bonnet. About 30 minutes into this indignity, Cagney would bail out of the stroller and head straight under the bed where she would stay until she could rub off all the clothing and restore herself to her proper Schnauzer status.) One summer day in 1992 Tia decided that she wanted to make something for the dogs to wear around their necks. She came into the sewing room where I was working and chose fabrics from the scrap box and proceeded to work diligently for some time cutting out triangles and trying them on each of the dogs. She tried to make a bandana then she tried to make a collar cover. After some trial and error it we decided that maybe a collar cover and bandana could be combined. From this humble start came our ever popular Slip-on Bandana. The idea of a bandana slipping onto a collar is not unique but in my humble opinion (blush), the bandana that resulted from Tias idea is the perfect simple, slip-on bandana. I myself learned to sew when very young and have sewed for most of my life. But when the love of animals and sewing came together as Crocodile Tears in 1992, I knew I had found my niche. For seven years I enjoyed marketing Crocodile Tears merchandise in grooming shops, veterinary hospitals and pet shops in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It involved lots of work and lots of traveling but I enjoyed every minute of it. Then, in 1999, I made the decision to set up an on-line store and test the cybermarket. Much to my surprise, the internet provided the perfect place to market Crocodile Tears and the response took off almost immediately. By the summer of 1999 I realized that I needed to drop everything but the on-line store, as there simply was not enough hours in a day to handle both.

Address: Crocodile Tears Pet Fashions, 13719 Gold Pan Lane, Mayer, AZ 86333
Telephone: 928-632-4392
Website: http://www.crocodiletears.com/