Found My Animal opens larger facility in Midtown Kingston – The Daily Freeman

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KINGSTON, N.Y. – A Kingston canine fashion and accessory factory plans to officially open in a larger Smith Avenue space in February.
The company, Found My Animal, had been located at the Fuller Shirt building on Pine Grove Avenue since 2018.
The company is expected to hold a grand opening at its new 86 Smith Ave. facility on Feb. 11 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The facility is now known as The Found Factory.
Owner Bethany Obrecht said Tuesday that the move from the Fuller Shirt Factory building was prompted by the need for a larger one.
“We needed more space to efficiently produce our products,” said Obrecht, who moved the company – specializing in handmade dog leashes – from Brooklyn to Kingston in 2018.
Found My Animal employs 20 people, with a recent expansion into overseas production of an apparel line, Obrecht said.
Still, the company continues to make its core production of rope dog leashes, collars, harnesses, pouches, beds, and carriers.
“We also have a new small retail store where you can buy custom-made pet apparel, pet leashes, collars, harnesses and treats, as well as our latest collaborative pet collections with retailers like Urban Outfitters, Vineyard Vines and Petco,” Obrecht said.
Found My Animal is an advocate of animal rescue. It has partnered with the Ulster County SPCA and 15% of each sale goes to that agency, according to a press release on the Smith Avenue grand opening.
A chance encounter in 2006 between two Chihuahua pups, both named Walter, wound up being the catalyst for Obrecht’s dog leash company.
The happenstance of a Brooklyn sidewalk meeting between the pups, as well as their owners — Obrecht, who now lives in High Falls, and Anna Conway — led to a conversation about dog leashes and animal rescue, and, eventually, a business partnership.
“Our founders met on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn while walking their two rescue pups, both of whom were named Walter,” the Found My Animal website states. “The Walters were sizing each other up, and their people started a conversation that quickly revealed their passion for animal welfare.”
“The reason why [we] started the company was to create more of a buzz around why it is important to adopt pets rather than buy a pet,” Obrecht said in a 2018 interview.
Each leash is individually numbered, and stamped ‘FOUND’ tags on each leash “serve as a reminder of the uniqueness of your animal and allow us to keep track of the number of animals you have helped so far,” the company website says.
According to the company’s website, the leashes can “withstand thousands of pounds of pull with the ends then ‘whipped’ (an old nautical term) for additional durability.”
They also can be maneuvered so that dog owners can walk their canines hands-free.
Obrecht said several celebrities have been spotted in published photographs walking dogs while using Found My Animal leashes. Among them are Drew Barrymore, Nicole Richie, Michelle Williams and Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.

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