September saw us heading back to the NEC in Birmingham for PATS 2026, the UK’s national pet industry trade show. It was our second year exhibiting, and this time I was determined to take everything I’d learnt from our first visit and create a stand that felt much more like Barkley and Fetch.
I’d always regarded our first year at PATS as something of a practice run. It was a chance to understand how the show worked, what we needed to take and, importantly, how we wanted Barkley and Fetch to look amongst hundreds of other pet brands.
This year, we were ready.
Creating a Stand That Felt Like Barkley and Fetch
The biggest change was the stand itself. I wanted it to feel stylish, warm and handmade rather than like a standard trade-show display.
As is often the case at Barkley and Fetch, the solution involved a bit of recycling, some DIY and my dad!
We had an old wooden gazebo sitting in the garden which I thought could be turned into display units. My dad cleaned it up, sanded everything down, glued it together to make it sturdy and then stained it black. He also made triangular shelves to fit into the frames, staining those to match the wooden display furniture we'd used on our stand the previous year.
What had been an old garden gazebo suddenly had a completely new life as part of our PATS stand – much more in keeping with our approach than buying a load of new exhibition furniture that might only be used a few times a year.
Bringing a Little Bit of Marple to the NEC
I also designed completely new graphics for the back walls.
Rather than using highly styled photographs of dog models, I chose pictures of real dogs I'd fitted in our Marple shop. I wanted the display to be about ordinary dogs of different shapes, sizes and breeds – the dogs we actually meet every day.
I designed the photographs to look as though they were individually framed and hanging on the wall. I used the same idea for the main Barkley and Fetch logo, surrounding it with a large ornate gold frame.
The result made the stand feel almost like a little room rather than an exhibition booth.
One thing I particularly wanted to make prominent was our Made in Britain accreditation. Having recently become a Made in Britain member, it felt especially important to show visitors that our products are genuinely designed and handmade here in Great Britain.
At a trade show where there is inevitably a huge amount of mass-manufactured and imported product, I wanted buyers to immediately understand what makes Barkley and Fetch different: small-batch British manufacturing, carried out by us in our own workshop in Marple.
Choosing What to Take
Of course, the next challenge was deciding which products to squeeze onto the stand!
I selected our bestselling tartans and prints and took samples of our collars in all sizes, together with matching leads and harnesses. We also displayed coordinating bandanas, bow ties and poo bag holders so buyers could see how the collections work together.
I dedicated another section to our Essentials range, giving visitors a chance to see some of our more practical everyday dog-walking products alongside our patterned collections.
There was a lot to fit into a relatively small space, but the new display units meant we could show a surprisingly large amount without losing the overall look of the stand.
And Then There Were the Outfits…
I decided that if we were improving the stand, we might as well improve ourselves too!
Instead of ordinary branded T-shirts, I chose fabrics from some of our collections and cut out simple tops for us to wear on the stand. I sewed them together and added Barkley and Fetch labels so that our clothes became part of the display too.
They went down incredibly well.
People commented on them throughout the show, and they helped tie everything together. They were unmistakably Barkley and Fetch – and certainly made us easy to spot!
Setting Up at the NEC
On Saturday lunchtime, we set off for Birmingham with the car packed to the absolute limit.
My friend Nancy came along to help me set everything up. We had a specific unloading slot at the NEC, so once we'd emptied the car, Nancy went off to park while I started building the stand.
Five hours later, we were finished.
I'm still not entirely sure where those five hours went, but when I finally stood back and looked at it, I was really pleased with what we'd created.
It felt stylish, homely and personal. Most importantly, it looked like us.
We checked into our hotel, found some dinner and then headed to bed completely exhausted, ready to do it all again the following morning.
Three Days at PATS
Sunday was opening day. After breakfast we headed back to the NEC at around 8.30am to make sure everything was ready before the doors opened at 9.30am.
Nancy stayed with me to help on Sunday. On Monday I was joined by Rob from B&V Trading, one of our stockists, and on the final day my friend Kala came along to help – including the rather less glamorous job of packing everything away again!
Over the three days we met retailers, buyers and other people from across the pet industry. We made a number of promising new contacts, which means my job now is to work my way through them, send follow-up emails and provide access to our trade website.
Standing Out for the Right Reasons
Coming away from PATS this year, one of the things I was happiest about was the response to the products and to the stand itself.
In an industry where so much is manufactured on a very large scale, being small is actually part of our strength.
Our products aren't designed in Britain and then sent thousands of miles away to be manufactured. We design them here, cut them here and sew them here. Our workshop is just downstairs from our shop in Marple.
That means we can produce in small batches, offer something genuinely different and have much more control over how and where our products are made.
PATS gave us the opportunity to put Barkley and Fetch alongside much bigger pet brands – and rather than trying to look like them, this year I think we did a much better job of showing exactly why we aren't like them.
And judging by the reaction we received, that difference was noticed.
So now it's back to Marple, back to the sewing machines…and quite a lot of follow-up emails!
PATS 2026 – done. See you next year? 🐾
