The Australian entrepreneur who owns a popular line of dog beds says she is heartbroken after finding that the products she ordered from ALDI look almost identical to hers.
The founder of Barney Bed, Julia Sakr, started the company in 2019 and named it after Barney, her beloved dog.
She wanted to create beds that support dogs’ joints and muscles.
The Barney Bed line, which starts at $255, has been well-received by its many fans.
According to Sakr, she was devastated when she learned that ALDI had introduced a $49.99 product that looks similar to hers.
The beds look similar in terms of their design and appearance.
Upon closer inspection, she says that the products she ordered from ALDI look almost identical to hers.
In a TikTok video, she claimed that she would be holding a demo in the store to show the other customers how the products of the supermarket are made.
One of the first things she noticed about the products of the company was how lightweight they are.
According to her, the foam and fabric of the beds are easy to latch onto, and they don’t have a protective covering. This means that saliva and urine can easily leak through. She also stated that the products are cheap and thin. However, after seeing the product’s copy, she feels more confident that her customers will be able to distinguish the difference between the quality and value of the products.
She also stated in another video that she did not feel good that a national supermarket chain such as ALDI was following her design. She claims that her business is the first of its kind to create a line of pet products that are both luxurious and durable. One of the main reasons she started the company was to create a bed that would last for years, as she was sick of the cheap products that end up in landfills.
According to her, some of her customers who purchased the Barney Bed in 2019 contacted her in 2024 to tell her that theirs looked new. Although she acknowledges that others may be unable to afford the beds, she claims that ALDI blatantly copied her business’ design.
When she started the Barney Bed business in 2019, she designed it to feature a memory foam and a chin rest to support the dog’s joints. She also focused on the negative feedback that her customers had about the other dog beds. Her business has since grown to an eight-figure company, and it has attracted prominent clients such as Scott Disick and Reese Witherspoon.