With its futuristic design, the collar looks more like a piece of high-tech jewellery than a dog accessory. But Bastards Dogwear is known for fashionable and high quality products and the Bastards collar is a perfect example of this, well, just like every single piece in our collection. The life of each collar begins under the hands of an Italian tanner and travels all the way to Slovenia, where the process continues with one of our local leather workers and finally ends in our hands, but most importantly under our strict eyes, where quality control takes place and determines if a piece of leather can become a Bastards collar. If so, we continue the process with hand dyeing, screen printing and protection. Originally there were 3 different sizes of the collar, but then we met Suki. Who is Suki? Always a bit grumpy, extra small as Petit Brabancons are, but also extremely cute, a little dog who needed extra adjustments to our collar because he is so small. So now we have 4 sizes in our family because no pup should be left behind.
There are a few MVPs joining to help the Bastards collar on its way to the top. The star of the show is definitely the GT Cobra® Buckle, whose origins lie in Italy, as do the origins of our leather. What is a GT Cobra® Buckle? It is the strongest load-bearing plastic buckle on the market, originally made for specialist equipment. And if you doubt its strength, let us inform you that the buckle can hold up to 2.2kn, which is equivalent to 2 tonnes before it breaks. And the best part is that the GT Cobra® buckle is that it’s not even made of metal, but of Polymer plastic, which makes it very light and easy to wear.
Oh, we almost forgot about the quick-release mechanism, which makes it extremely easy for you to take the collar off your dog. Look, we all been there. You come home from a walk and want to take the collar off, but your pup suddenly has this strong urge to move like it’s his or her last day on earth. So here is the buckle that saves the day once again. The buckle is very easy to close and open, it has to be, after all it is meant for climbing. It is without doubt the safest, most durable and highest quality buckle in the world. Joining the GT Cobra® Buckle is his brother from the same mother, Cobra® D-Ring. Also a very strong player holding up to 22kn and the best friend of our leash about which we will talk more later. Last but not least, there is the in-house designed, 3D-printed buckle belt that holds it all together. We take great pride in our attention to detail and we are super picky when it comes to designing the perfect product, because who deserves it more than our furry best friends. So when we have trouble finding a perfect element, we have no trouble designing our own. This is the backstory of why we designed the buckle belt on our own. Now that we have come full circle and your dog is proudly and comfortably wearing the Bastards Collar, it is time for its aforementioned best friend, the Bastards Leash.
Don’t be fooled by its minimalist appearance, for the leash may look simple, but the process and its elements are anything but. Let us start at the beginning, where the collar meets the leash, or more precisely, where the CobraⓇ D-Ring and the KONG Frog meet and connect you and your puppy into one being. So romantic… If part of this paired being was not constantly pulling you as a maniac. But who can be angry with them? They are just too cute. Let us get back to our show stopper, the KONG Frog, before we go on and on about the cuteness of dogs and write a whole novel on the subject. The KONG Frog comes from the same family as the GT Cobra® Buckle and the Cobra® D-Ring. So you already know that these are all respected, high quality and super strong members designed for specialist equipment. The KONG Frog has a revolutionary automatic clamping mechanism that only opens when you touch both anchor points, saving you from breaking your wrist every time you want to let your dog off the leash. Remember Bruce? Our energetic ambassador who is a great example of an impatient, hyperactive dog who goes berserk especially when you want to let him off the leash. He’s a good reason why we kept looking for the perfect and especially easy-to-use equipment to shoot the rocket into space, the rocket being Bruce and space the park.
Next we have the aramid rope, which looks almost fragile, but the material is used in bulletproof vests and can withstand a force of 2.5 tonnes. So you can be sure that your dog is more likely to rip your arm off than to tear the rope. But the Bastards Leash wouldn’t be the Bastards Leash if it weren’t for two small but very important helpers. One of them is called the heart and is located where The KONG Frog and the rope meet. It helps to hold the rope and protects it from any damage that the KONG Frog might cause. The heart is made of iron and it’s originally used for nautical equipment.The second helper is the heat-shrinking tube, which is a very important component both functionally and aesthetically. The Bastards Collar and the Bastards Leash are a super duo connecting the dots or should we say dogs very effectively and also fashionably but we cleared that in the beginning.
