Behind the Design: The Body Glove Crystal Cool Pet Cooling Shirt

In 2003, Teresa moved to Florida and adopted a new running partner, Sophie, a lovable black lab who loved the beach as much as she did. However, they had one problem: the heat. And on a beautiful, breezy summer evening, Teresa nearly lost Sophie.

"We were taking it easy, and she was keeping a perfect slow pace with me," Teresa recalls. "However, rounding the second mile she went down all of a sudden on all four paws. Thankfully, a medic nearby came to our aid. He promptly picked her up and carried her to an outdoor shower where we carefully monitored her for the next 2 hours."

The next day, Teresa crafted a "sun guard" made from her running apparel with one simple purpose in mind—to provide Sophie a shirt that would prevent overheating. That's it.

Teresa and Sophie became known around town as the "Dog Jeep" as they rode around in their decked out car wrap featuring a larger-than-life Sophie on the side. Sophie sadly passed in 2020, the same year Teresa was awarded the patent, but her spirit lives on in the company and high-quality shirt coined as Summerdog.

"This shirt is her story and the legacy she passes on to all dogs," Teresa says.

Living in Florida where the year-round climate is already hotter and more humid than the national average, Teresa became keenly aware of owners and their pets struggling with heat. "I see many people taking their dogs out on long, intense walks or bike rides when the pace is too fast and heat too strong," she explains. "My hope is that this shirt will provide the platform to educate the public and save dogs, and prevent these sad and potentially fatal incidents from happening in the future."

Dogs look to us to provide a safe environment and home, and unless we can spot the tell-tale signs of heatstroke—panting, pacing, excessive drooling, rapid heartbeat, bright red gums—heatstroke will continue to increase in numbers and go unreported.

Teresa tried everything on the market—from doggie bandanas to vests—but found they were either bulky, too heavy when wet or frozen, or simply gimmicks that didn't support the claims they made. She then used her own running clothes to knit together a shirt for her 85-pound Sophie, using air-wick, UV fabric shirts with the idea that it would wick away moisture from the dog's body core to keep them cool, while UV material would protect the coat and skin from sun exposure.

The problem? Unlike humans who experience a cooling effect when moisture is wicked away from skin, dogs' bodies have fur and instead would keep the heat in rather than allowing it to evaporate. Wetting the shirt would only provide a cooling effect until the shirt dried. It didn't meet Teresa's criteria of finding a garment that would provide all-day sun protection and owner peace of mind.

Then came the breakthrough.

"I started cutting up all my other cooling accessories and garments to figure out what made them so special," Teresa explains. "Turns out, many cooling products used different types of crystals, some of which worked, and some didn't. Then, I had an idea: what if I used the same material from human sun and sports wear and added a type of cooling crystals that had been tested multiple times?"

In 2009, after a year of researching for a solution, Teresa decided to take a leap of faith. She hired a company that helped small inventors like herself secure third-party licensing agreements for new product ideas by showcasing her drawings and ideas to their portfolio of global manufacturers. She then hired a patent attorney in New York to help her apply for a utility patent to protect her idea.

Eleven years later, it came to be known as the first-ever dog shirt to prevent heatstroke.

When Teresa made her first prototype, she only had ONE SIZE to sell—it was called the Sophie Shirt for 85-pound-plus dogs. Very limiting in terms of sales and getting the story out. Additionally, when she did sell a few, because they were custom to fit her dog, they were returned because they didn't fit appropriately to other big dogs.

"In the early days we made a lot of novice mistakes," Teresa admits.

The Challenge: The primary challenge stemmed from the fact that Teresa was working with a custom pattern tailored to Sophie's specific needs, rather than a universal dog shirt pattern. Additionally, her design partner OceanTec USA was a manufacturer specializing in human clothing, which added complexity to the process.

With the assistance of a professional sewer she met in the Miami retail district with experience in pet retail, Teresa finalized the project. These became the final sets of shirts she produced in small batches, available for online purchase and at farmers markets.

Why Lycra? Teresa tested many blends, but found that Lycra provides the perfect combination needed for durability to support the structure of the shirt and the elasticity to stretch and contour the dog's body, creating that semi-fitted shirt that provides contact to key areas of the dog's body core to bring temperature down.

The Cooling Zones: Teresa chose the strategic placement areas after testing Sophie numerous times after arriving home on hot days. "I'd place regular ice packs, like the ones you'd use in a cooler, under her arms, chin, neck and stomach and would observe how quickly she'd cool and bring her overall body temp down." Similar to the fabric testing, Teresa then tested a variety of non-toxic bulk-grade polymer crystals in sizes ranging from 1-2mm to 2-4mm.

To be candid, even after securing the patent in June 2020, Teresa harbored reservations. She attended the Global Pet Conference, the USPTO's Invention-Con, and sought guidance from a brand licensing attorney. However, despite her efforts, she faced rejection.

Then everything changed.

"Finally I was introduced to Bo Nelson of Wholesale Pet," Teresa recalls. "Bo not only believed in my concept but also provided me with access to people in the pet manufacturing world. Their support was invaluable in securing the exposure and credibility my product deserved."

That introduction led to the partnership with Body Glove—a brand synonymous with protection, performance, and an active lifestyle in the sun. The alignment was natural, and together, Teresa's vision could finally reach the pet parents who needed it most.