The industry celebrates in Germany

The turn-out for Karlie’s house fair, titled “Carnival at Karlie”, was around 1 500 visitors on the Saturday and another 500 or so on the Sunday. Speciality traders from all over Germany were joined by Karlie wholesalers and representatives of major pet product companies and retail chains from nearly every country in Europe at the event, which also marked the company’s 30th anniversary. A group of Norwegian pet dealers in Viking costumes, who came to Wünnenberg by coach, made a particularly striking entrance.Gerd Blaschke set up his wholesale company in 1976. In 1987 the company started in-house production of leather goods, manufacturing high-quality leather items for dogs and cats using the company’s own designs. A plant for processing nylon and belt materials was opened three years later in Hungary, and in 2002 a plant was established in China for the production of scratching trees, brushes and toys. The company pressed ahead with expansion at its head office in Germany too, completing the construction of a second logistics centre with space for 8 000 pallets in 2003. Karlie now markets a full range of around 8 000 products for dogs, cats, ferrets, rodents, birds and fish, together with boutique items and literature.As well as the current product range, the house fair featured over 100 new products. These included merchandise for the forthcoming World Cup competition, for example football boot dog toys, a cat toy with a World Cup ball and a “World Cup 2006” action ball edition. “Doggy Talk”, a dog harness that comes in various sizes, also proved to be highly popular with visitors to the fair. This can have logos attached to it, for example, “It’s a girl” or “It’s a boy”, “I love Jogger” or “Taxpayer”. The viewing gallery was well-frequented by visitors watching Karlie staff at work on the production of dog leads. Visitors were even able to try their hand at making a souvenir “mini-lead” of their own in an area set up especially for this purpose. In the combined fair and catering area, renowned suppliers such as Iams, Quiko, Nutro, JBL, Schulze and Flexi exhibited their products. One exhibitor who had travelled a long way was Peter Garon, managing director of the Canadian manufacturer Multivet. Mr Garon stated that demand for the company’s range of dog training systems was growing steadily in Europe. Multivet has therefore set up a European marketing office plus warehouse in Holland with a free 0800 telephone line, enabling consumers and retailers alike…