How did Alpen Schatz become the exclusive American importer and distributor of the Traditional Swiss Collar?
I was working in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, but I was looking for something else to do. I had lived in England and Munich for 15 years, and I knew that Swiss collars had been popular there for a long, long time. How did the Swiss collar get so popular in Europe? For centuries, wealthy Europeans have been going to Switzerland to ski for winter vacations. Only the rich could afford to go to Switzerland, because it is so expensive there, so it became a prestigious sign of wealth to buy the Swiss dog collars, because it proved that you were wealthy enough to travel there. In the 1800s, all the wealthiest Europeans decorated their dogs in Swiss collars — all the prominent members of society, the people who wear cashmere sweaters and mink furs. OK, so you were working in Silicon Valley, and suddenly you decided to sell Swiss dog collars instead? It happened like this. I have a Bernese mountain dog that I bought 2 1/2 years ago, named Schlappi. I bought him a Swiss collar two
