Pet grooming has historically sat in its own ‘lane’, often associated with vets or smelly pet shops, and being a fairly practical and utilitarian affair. However, something has changed in the last few years, pet grooming, with a focus on dogs in particular, has become an area we’re seeing more and more well known beauty or fashion houses expand into – and frankly, we’re not actually that surprised.
Beauty is famous for category creeping
Over the last decade, beauty brands have been category creeping, taking over almost every adjacent space that could be considered relevant – from wellness categories like supplements to homeware fragrance, it was only a matter of time before brands noticed this untapped category and realised their demographic are also pet owners and looking for more luxurious alternatives to make their pets smell and look as good as they do.
Over the last few years we’ve seen a surprising amount of well-known brands, across a range of budget and brand ethos’ enter the pet/dog grooming space. From designer brand Dolce & Gabbana, haircare specialists OUAI, fragrance specialists Jo Malone London and sustainability focused brands like Green People and Faith in Nature all offering some kind of elevated dog grooming shampoo, conditioners or perfumes.
And it would be amiss not to mention the retailers stocking these products too- online beauty retailers Lookfantastic, Cult Beauty (both THG-owned) and Feelunique all added pet care to their lifestyle offering, and this also proved to be a success for these brands. Taking Lookfantastic as an example, who led the way with this offering, they saw dog shampoo searches jump 38% over three months after entering the category in 2021.
Some beauty brands brands taking the dog grooming leap
OUAI, the trailblazer here with its Fur Bébé dog shampoo, on the more luxury end of the price spectrum priced at £28 per bottle, launched as a limited-edition SKU back in 2018, well before this became a trend. It’s a sign that this dog grooming trend has been quietly building for a good few years now.
Jo Malone London, one of the newer brands to enter the dog grooming block this month, took the formulation route, partnering with British pet-care specialist WildWash with its Orange & Cedarwood dog shampoo, priced at £18. It produces a scent lifted straight from its signature fragrance language and then applied to an entirely new customer- our fury, four-legged kind!
Rituals is the latest and arguably most ambitious brand to enter the category. Launched this September, Rituals Dog Care debuted with not just one but seven products: a shampoo, dry shampoo, paw balm, mouth spray, detangling spray, air & fabric freshener, and a dog perfume. The range is completed with an adjustable collar, dog ball and a portable water bowl, alongside two curated gift sets available to buy. It’s a striking level of commitment from a brand best known for candles and body care- a clear signal that Rituals sees dog grooming as more than a passing marketing moment!
And then there’s Dolce & Gabbana, which pushed the crossover furthest of all with Fefé, an £83 fragrance made specifically for dogs. Beauty’s luxury-pricing logic applied, almost provocatively, to a market that’s never had a “designer” tier before.
It was only a matter of time
Alongside the fact that the beauty industry is pretty brazen with its category creeping, there are three other factors that play into the rise of the beauty dog grooming trend:
Skinification:
The same ingredient-transparency mindset driving human skincare (targeted formulas, active ingredients, the want to “know what’s in it”) is being applied to coat and skin care for pets.
Pet humanisation
Dogs are increasingly treated as family members whose self-care routines mirror their owners’. Owners spend more on their dog grooming than they spend on their own hair cuts and if you’re doing a five-step evening routine, then why shouldn’t your dog get one too?
Premiumisation
Pet care has traditionally been a value category but beauty brands see white space at the top of the market that few have claimed yet, until now.
Tread carefully
While most are loving this niche trend becoming more popular, it isn’t all positive. Dolce & Gabbana’s Fefé drew criticism from the RSPCA, a reminder that crossing into an animal-welfare-adjacent category may carry reputational risk, especially if it reads as opportunistic rather than genuine.
The brands that have landed well here are Jo Malone with an established pet grooming partner WildWash, OUAI that has garnered years of quiet credibility and the likes of Faith in Nature whose formulations are natural, specifically formulated for dogs and cruelty free. These brands appear to be treating the category as a real formulation challenge, not just another marketing stunt.
What does it mean for brands and marketers?
This is a great example of testing just how far a brand’s offering and credibility can stretch before it starts to lose shape. Fragrance houses moving into scent-led grooming makes intuitive sense, just as a skincare brand extending into ingredient-led pet coat care can feel like a natural next step.
But there’s a lesson here for any brand considering a move into an adjacent category, whether that’s pet care or something else. The extension needs to have a credible link back to what the brand is already known and trusted for. A cute product shot might grab attention, but it won’t create credibility and sales on its own.
