What inspired the creation of your company, and when did it start?

My inspiration began in 2011. I had a dog named Maxi, who had some severe skin allergies, and at that time a number of the products I had for her weren’t working effectively. Also, her skin became really raw and irritated. I was also recovering from surgery at the time, so I was unable to be around those similar toxic ingredients. So that’s when the idea came up that why couldn’t I create a shampoo specifically for Maxi that didn’t have artificial ingredients and that wasn’t made with chemicals. After creating some more products on my own, we launched NAVA Pets in 2013.

What is your brand’s mission, and what causes drive you and your team?

For us, it’s providing health and wellness for your pets, naturally. Providing natural relief for our furry companions. That’s our model, and we live it in every fashion. We’re always trying to find natural and organic product solutions that meet a wide variety of pet care needs.

How is your brand socially responsible?

We do a lot of volunteering with various pet agencies and animals organizations — whether we do it through monetary donations or give back through services. We also started our own charity, which is called Pet Style for Life. This charity allows us to educate and inform others on the importance of pet care and pet nutrition.

Our ultimate goal is to build a pet pantry for families that are in need and need resources for their pet loved ones. We’d love to be able to provide essential resources for them on a monthly basis.

What does your brand do to lower its ecological impact and/or promote environmental health and well-being?

Much our packaging is recycled / recyclable and eco friendly. Of course, also because we use a lot of organic ingredients, we don’t have a lot of the chemical additives that a lot of our competitors may have. This allows our formulas to be more natural and environmentally friendly.

Does your company perform animal testing and/or use animal-based ingredients in your products? Why or why not?

We manufacture here in the USA. We’re based in Orlando, Florida. This is a big core value for us — to have our product based here in the US. This way we can address issues quickly when they arise, and we can have a connection with our manufacturers.

Where does your company make/manufacture your products, and why?

I used to tell people that if it wasn’t safe for me, that it wouldn’t be safe for our pets.

So much of the products we make, we test on ourselves and don’t test on animals directly. As a result of that, we make sure that our products are truly safe and non toxic.

Describe your design philosophy – how do you balance quality and affordability?

This was actually a big challenge for us. What we started to do was to both look for the best ingredients and be price competitive — but we always keep in mind that we don’t want to reduce the quality of what we present to our customers. It’s always a balance between price and quality.

Tell us a little about the ingredients/materials you use. Generally, why did you pick them over other options?

We do a lot of research. We also have a very good veterinary consultation team. They help us compare a lot of the natural solutions that humans have, and we try to look at if there’s some sort of complement factor, where that can translate to natural pet care solutions. In doing so, we come up with and develop natural formulas that would provide some of the similar benefits, using these safe ingredients.

Specifically, we like to use plant based oils (like Olive oils and Jojoba Oils) — and because most of our ingredients are organic and Fair Trade, we keep our values related to social responsibility and sustainability.

What are the next steps for your company?

The next step is trying to expand the brand. We want to get NAVA Pets into a larger retail base. We also want to educate and inform people that there are safe, healthy and affordable alternatives. We want to be able to get this information out to the masses, while balancing the interests of our current customer base and bringing them new natural product solutions through research and development.

How do you view the future of conscious consumption?

I’m really optimistic about conscious consumption. The reason why is because I see that future generations are looking more and more towards living a healthy, quality life. As a result of this, we want to feel that we are attracting people to their core and allowing them to make healthier life changes.

We are seeing more and more that our natural resources — and our animal companions — are dwindling in numbers. I feel that we have a fiduciary responsibility to see that our planet is as plentiful as possible.

As a parting sentiment, if you could only use one word to describe your brand ethos – what would it be?

Innovative.

Because in order to make effective change, you have to think outside the box. I think we’re working towards innovate solutions everyday by proving healthier alternatives.