Person lying beside two very small dogs in black modular raincoats; one shows a red belly wrap. Both dogs are facing the person.

From cobblestones to California: modular dogwear

BellySwap® designs two-part modular dogwear built around a removable, adjustable belly wrap. It's made for dogs that run low to the ground, where splash and street grime hit the underside first.

It began on rain-slick cobblestones in Amsterdam, a city where it rains more than 190 days a year. As a designer and dog parent, I learned fast: wet dog walks weren't just inconvenient, they were inefficient. The market was full of dog raincoats that promised style or function, but never both.

So I designed a dog raincoat with adaptive coverage for the belly and chest. The goal was simple: create a solution to the endless friction of dressing, drying, and cleaning. On repeat. No overengineering. No instruction manual. Just a modular, minimalist system: sleek, flexible, and intuitive. Tailored to move, respectful of anatomy, breed-versatile, and easy to use, from kids to seniors, and on dogs with limited mobility.

The first prototype was handmade on my living room floor in Amsterdam. Born from need, rooted in real weather, now professionally sewn in California using global materials. That raincoat model became the blueprint for the modular dogwear system that followed.

Person and dog shelter under a black plastic bag in a rainy Amsterdam park

Wooden sign engraved with “Amsterdam” on a boat moored in an Amsterdam canal

Small dog licking its lips while sitting in a Heineken-branded box on a bicycle in Amsterdam

Small dog standing with its back legs inside a black rain boot on a concrete floor in Amsterdam

Person measuring a small dog with a tape measure indoors in Amsterdam

Person and small dog on a boat ride through an Amsterdam canal, with boats and trees in the background

Seamstress in a studio measuring a small dog wearing an orange coat, with a sewing machine in the background in Amsterdam

Small dog in a bicycle basket on an Amsterdam street, wrapped in a pink plastic bag

Large dog sitting at an outdoor bar patio table with three men drinking beer; one man uses a laptop, in Amsterdam

Image to impact

While living in Amsterdam, I visited the annual World Press Photo Exhibition at Nieuwe Kerk — the global competition that showcases the world’s most powerful photojournalism. One image stopped me in my tracks: “Living Among What’s Left Behind” by Mário Cruz, which won 3rd prize in the Environment category.

It wasn’t just a photograph. It was a mirror held up to the world’s waste, and a reminder that some communities carry the full weight of global pollution while others barely see it.

That moment helped define two priorities: making more considered material choices where possible, and designing accessible dogwear that's easy to handle for kids and seniors, with flexible, comfortable coverage for dogs across breeds and mobility needs.

The softshell we use contains 94% recycled polyester sourced from post-consumer plastic waste. A material choice shaped by that awareness.

That perspective still shapes the system — from the materials we choose to a removable belly wrap that can be washed separately from the coat.