Two Belfast women who were furloughed at the start of the pandemic have turned their design skills to dressing dogs in their free time - and the outfits have been a huge hit.
Costume designer Kay Devlin, 42, and dressmaker Alina Grychta, 41, were both creating Irish dancing dresses when the pandemic began.
As demand for the costumes they usually work on slowed, they found themselves with a lot of free time and so decided to make outfits for their furry friends while waiting for their day jobs to restart.
Now AG Dog Fashion, which is based in a studio on the Falls Road, has orders coming in from as far away as America.
Kay told Belfast Live: "Alina is the maker. I have been working with Alina for about 12 years now - we work in Irish dance. I am an Irish dancing designer and I design all the costumes and she is actually a maker.
"We have worked for several different companies in Belfast but we have always worked together.
"A couple of years ago, she started making clothes for her dogs because she could never find anything that actually fitted. She started making made-to-measure clothes and when she took her dogs out, everyone was asking: 'wow, that's a lovely jacket - where did you get it from?'.
"Ali then started making little clothes for friends and family and because I am designer I came on board just after lockdown in March last year when we were furloughed from where we work.
"I started doing all the prints and personalisation of the coats and then, because Ali is so good at making dresses, she started making things for St Patrick's Day, Gay Pride and all sorts of others things and that is where the dresses came from.
"That's how we actually started and then I designed a website back in May.
We are getting a lot of people coming to us because they can't find anything to fit exactly.
"Everything is all tailored. We show people what we do and then they measure their dogs for us.
"We send them a simple measuring form and they just fill it in and send it to us and we create something just for them."
As well as dresses, the creative duo have also been designing and making tailored coats and hoodies for pooches.
Kay added: "We are doing really well. We are getting orders from America and over here."
As for the outfits, Kay said their "inspiration comes from knowing the dog" and that the owner gives them an idea of what they would like.
"I think working in Irish dancing and designing costumes is where I get my inspiration from as well," she added.
The creative pair also made something special for a dog called Milo who appeared on a television show called Pooch Perfect, and Kay said that has helped advertise what they do.
But she says most of their customers come through word of mouth or people seeing them out with their dogs, who are clearly dressed to impress.
"Just going to the park, people come up and say 'where is your dog's raincoat from?'.
"I give them a business card and it has just spread from there.
The coat designs cost £30 plus.
They are tailored to each dog and Kay says they can even be personalised with your pet's name.
And she says it takes them between just seven to 10 days to make a new outfit for each pooch.
In Belfast, they drop them at the door.
"Everything is all tailored for the dog and is all made to measure for their neck, their chest, their back and their legs and everything," she added.
"We are having such a hard time at the minute - it is nice to bring a smile to someone's face."
For more, visit their website here.
