Open Dialogue With Sophie Bakalar, the Co-Founder of Fable

Sophie Bakalar, the Co-Founder of Fable, and her brother Jeremy Canade are rising entrepreneurs in the pet goods industry. Bakalar recently sat down with ONE37pm’s Phil Toronto on the latest Open Dialogue episode to discuss the Fable brand, why she decided to start the company, and what she was doing before creating her business.

So, what exactly is Fable?

“Fable is a highly innovative direct to consumer brand, and we make pet gear. So, all sorts of products to solve problems for you and your pets.  The idea is that we don’t just want to make stuff. We want to make stuff that solves problems, and that is the angle that comes with all of our products and design process,” said Bakalar.

“As much as we love and adore our pets, they do come with a lot of pain points and a lot of problems around cleanliness, convenience, anxiety, boredom, and time. There is just a huge range of issues with humans in the pet space. Usually, in urban areas, those are the problems that we want to solve.”

She continued: “So, we make all types of products for pets such as beds, leash, bowls, and toys. Everything that you would need for a pet, but we try to be thoughtful during the design process, trying to solve problems.”

Bakalar has always been a huge pet lover, which ultimately led her to start Fable with her Canade. 

“So, I have always wanted to do something in the pet space but never really thought about it from this perspective. However, at Collaborative Fund, as I was investing in consumer goods, I saw a lot of opportunities in the pet space. As things were changing from a consumer standpoint and a marketing perspective in terms of people getting married later, having kids later, and getting pets earlier,” shared Bakalar.

“This is all pre-COVID, which has changed all of that has accelerated a lot of these trends. But, even beforehand, there were so many different dynamics of how we live our lives have shifted—making it easier to care for pets.

So, I was looking for the pet space from an investment perspective and was surprised to see a lot of interesting opportunities in pet foods, Insurance, and other different categories.”