Today we’d like to introduce you to Dug Rusinek.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our brand started with a beer group I was in, wanting a logo. I gave him a few concepts to an artist friend to play around with. He came back with a cat design that was incredible. Once I saw that I had the idea to expand on it with a brand, Felinious Hops.
Once the brand came about, we got even more cat crazy. Felinious Hops pushed us to cat advocacy and eventually fostering and being on the board of directors of Runaways Animal Rescue.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s not easy starting an apparel company. Fortunately, I had a great mentor in Jon Berg of WovePrint.co who pretty much taught me everything I know about running an apparel company.
From using the best garments possible, learning to screen print, and eventually handling some graphic design on my own, Jon was there to not only help inspire the brand and provide guidance, but he also helped us grow by giving us a company vehicle. Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to take Felinious full time.
The biggest issue we come across has been communicating with designers the visions we have for a design. I had the hardest time telling designers I didn’t like something. Eventually, I figured out how to be able to provide constructive criticism to ensure I’m on the same page with them.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Felinious Hops started as an apparel company, but since we started, the brand, I now consider myself a cat rescuer first.
Felinious gave us a pathway into cat rescue by forming relationships with people like Dani Giroux, founder of Runaways Animal Rescue, Sterling Davis (The Original Tracking), and Chris Poole (CatManChris, ColeAndMarmalade).
Seeing these people dedicate their lives to saving cats inspired me to take a more hands-on approach to animal welfare. Since we started fostering 2 years ago, we’ve fostered and adopted out over 40 kittens. Recently, we just started our own line of catnip called Felinious Kush!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, we always had cats. I had a stray who I named Hobbes who would come through the cat door once every few months and sleep in bed with me, flea-ridden and with worms, but I didn’t care. I grew up playing basketball and baseball in most of my free time.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.FeliniousHops.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/felinious_hops/
