3 Reasons Why We Don't Make Mesh Harnesses

Before we were officially dog parents, we spent the majority of time leading up to getting our first baby in every local pet store, looking at all the accessories and trying to figure out how to make sure we were choosing the best ones. We weren't to know any different than what we could find in the pet shops, and assumed that everything in there was deemed safe, healthy and good quality or else it wouldn't have been in there, right? But boy were we wrong!

Aside from the cheap fabrics and straps most products were made out of, there seemed to be one very common feature with every harness we found - they were all made out of mesh. Mesh on the outside or mesh on the inside - but why?

ONE:

Every regular person sees a mesh dog harness and thinks 'breathable' because it looks airy. But realistically, it's only going to be more breathable without any other layers of fabric. Anyone who has played a sweaty sport in their day and wore mesh uniforms will know this. There's just no point putting mesh anywhere to help your skin breathe unless it's only mesh and nothing else in the way. We searched high and low but we couldn't find a single harness in any brand that was made only out of mesh and could actually claim that they were 'breathable'. They all had another layer of solid fabric so WHY were all these brands still using it?!

TWO:

The next thing we learnt about mesh, especially when put up against doggo fur and skin, is that it's a known irritant. Let me just say that a little bit slower for anyone still catching up... Mesh. irritates. dog's. skin. Yep, you heard right. The very nature of rough mesh having little holes can catch onto your doggo's fur, pulling strands of hair in the wrong direction, causing friction and rubbing against sensitive areas like the armpits and underneath your fur-baby's chest. And what's worse is when a tiny piece of dirt, grass or sand gets in and underneath the mesh layer, the mesh allows it to stay locked in, secretly rubbing and irritating doggo without even knowing anything is there causing pain. So here we are, still at a loss as to why any brands still use this fabric in their harnesses.

THREE:

Then we had an ah-HA moment when we investigated further with our own fabric and materials supplier. Mesh is cheap! In fact, it's the cheapest way to make a dog harness which means more money in their pockets when they charge you top dollar. Strangely enough, it's also not as strong as any other fabric and is quicker to rip (given it's basically just holes) yet some brands still think it's a good idea to use it in a product that's supposed to be keeping your babies safe and secure on their walks. Say what?!

Knowing everything we know now, we're still perplexed as to why many brands choose to make mesh dog harnesses, which is exactly why we titled this blog post "reasons why we don't use mesh" instead of "reasons why they all use mesh". We started PUPSTYLE because of the love we have for our doggos and wanting to give them accessories that were better, safer and more comfortable than anything we could find on the market, but we can't help but think that there must be a lot of pet brands out there who are just trying to make a quick buck by selling cheap harnesses to pet parents that don't know any better.

Toss the mesh! And replace it with this totally mesh-free step in dog harness made to keep dogs safer and more comfortable.