About Us
Inspired by dogs. Made for people.
We think dogs have life figured out.
They celebrate the small things, never turn down an adventure, find any excuse to get outside and somehow make an ordinary Tuesday feel like the best day of the week.
HIGGS exists because we think we could all borrow a little more of that outlook.
Not by chasing tennis balls through the park (although, honestly, go for it) but just by choosing to enjoy life that little bit more.
It all started with a bow tie.
Back in 2014, my husband and I were planning our wedding. Naturally, I wanted our dog, Mr Gatsby, to be there looking every bit the gentleman.
Simple enough, I thought.
Except it wasn't.
Back then, dogs at weddings weren't nearly as common as they are now, and finding a decent dog bow tie was surprisingly impossible.
Everything I found was either too novelty, too flimsy, oddly twee or looked like it might fall
apart before the confetti hit the floor. I even ended up importing a harness with a bow tie connected to it from China because it was the closest thing I could find. It wasn't great (and the matching lead managed to disappear before the ceremony anyway!).
After the wedding, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had a burning desire to put my B in Textiles GCSE to good use! [Side note on the GCSE Textiles - I had a dream of doing Textiles at A-Level and then going on to Uni to study it, but they stopped the A-Level course at my college before it got going, so it had always been in there somewhere!]
Anyway, I had the thought that surely someone could make something better.
So I did.
Then I made another.
Then Mr Gatsby started wearing them on his daily walks with the kind of confidence usually reserved for minor aristocracy and men in loafers at beach clubs.
People noticed.
I kept making them.
The Distinguished Dog Company was born.
At the time, marketing paid the bills, but creating had always been my thing.
Long before dog bow ties, I'd been making and selling all sorts at markets. If you scroll back far enough on Instagram you'll find vintage comic-book furniture, pom-pom jewellery and various other creative experiments that probably should have stayed in 2012.
Then I was invited to take a handful of bow ties to Falmouth Christmas Market.
I packed what I'd made, hoped for the best...
...and sold out.
That was the moment The Distinguished Dog Company stopped being a hobby and became a business.
But something changed.
If I'm honest, I started disliking the name about 2 years into DD.
The Distinguished Dog Company was perfect when all I made were dog bow ties.
But every new idea I had felt like it had to squeeze through a doorway that was getting smaller and smaller.
And then I realised something.
It had never really been about dogs.
It was about the way dogs see life.
The optimism.
The excitement over the simplest things.
The daily adventures.
The ability to make an ordinary walk feel like the highlight of the day.
The more time I spent building the business, the more convinced I became that dogs have the right idea.
So instead of making products for dogs, I wanted to make products inspired by them.
Goodbye, The Distinguished Dog Company, hello HIGGS
The HIGGS way
Everything starts with one question.
Would we genuinely want this in our own lives?
If the answer isn't an immediate yes, we don't make it.
That means no gimmicks.
No throwaway trends.
No products that exist just because everyone else is making them.
Just thoughtfully designed pieces that are made properly, built to last and designed to become part of your everyday.
Dogs are still at the heart of everything we do.
Always will be.
But HIGGS isn't really about dogs.
It's about living a little more like they do.
We Are HIGGS
We believe good design makes ordinary moments feel better.
We believe buying fewer, better things beats buying lots of forgettable ones.
We believe quality should be noticed in the details.
We believe life is better when you get outside.
And we believe there's something worth learning from the way dogs move through the world.
Take the longer walk.
Say yes to adventures.
Notice the sunshine.
Get excited about seeing your favourite people.
Never underestimate the restorative power of fresh air.
Thanks for being here.
Whether you've been with us since the bow tie days or you've only just discovered HIGGS, thank you.
It genuinely means the world.
I hope you find something here that makes you smile, reminds you to get outside or simply becomes one of those everyday things you wouldn't want to be without.
And if not...
Go and take the dog for a walk.
They've probably got a better plan for the day anyway.