AboutUs

One day in 1992, our Slip-On bandana came to be, at the behest of my then little niece, Tia.

As a baby, Tia learned to pull herself up and stand using the patient Golden Retriever that always
watched over her. Tia investigated the outside world around our home under the protective eye of
that same big amicable retriever. I have no doubt that Tia and "Erica" shared a dog toy or two
and, no doubt, more than a few snacks, as they were best friends.

Not surprisingly, as Tia grew up, each of our dogs in turn, came to love this wonderful little
person who brushed and bathed them and fed them treats and took them for walks. (Our
Miniature Schnauzer did, nevertheless, balk at being taken for a ride in the doll stroller, attired in a
pair of frilly panties, pink sun dress and a bright colored sun bonnet. About 30 minutes into this
indignity, "Cagney" would bail out of the stroller and head straight under the bed where she would
stay until she could rub off all the clothing and restore herself to her proper Schnauzer status.)

One summer day in 1992 Tia decided that she wanted to make something for the dogs to wear
around their necks. She came into the sewing room where I was working and chose fabrics from
the scrap box and proceeded to work diligently for some time cutting out triangles and trying them
on each of the dogs. She tried to make a bandana then she tried to make a collar cover. After
some trial and error it we decided that maybe a collar cover and bandana could be combined.
From this humble start came our ever popular Slip-on Bandana. The idea of a bandana slipping
onto a collar is not unique but in my humble opinion (blush), the bandana that resulted from Tia's
idea is the perfect simple, slip-on bandana.

I myself learned to sew when very young and have sewed for most of my life. But when the
love of animals and sewing came together as Crocodile Tears in 1992, I knew I had found my
niche.

For seven years I enjoyed marketing Crocodile Tears merchandise in grooming shops, veterinary
hospitals and pet shops in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It involved lots of work and lots of
traveling but I enjoyed every minute of it. Then, in 1999, I made the decision to set up an on-line
store and test the cybermarket. Much to my surprise, the internet provided the perfect place to
market Crocodile Tears and the response took off almost immediately. By the summer of 1999 I
realized that I needed to drop everything but the on-line store, as there simply was not enough
hours in a day to handle both.

With the support of friends and family and the bud of an idea from Tia, Crocodile Tears
merchandise is now worn by pets in most every state in the United States as well as several
foreign countries. Is the bandana business hard work? Yes. Am I loving it? Without a doubt!

I have chosen to conduct a one-woman business for now, so if you see mistakes on the website,
or if your order is in error, or if anything else goes wrong, you know who to contact...

Jeanne Bermudez
Seamstress, Webmaster-of-Sorts, E-mail Maven and General Keeper of the Crocodile