Zara’s Pet Collection Is Giving Montessori Influencer Vibes

Did you know that Zara has a pet collection? It’s fine if you didn’t. You sort of have to know it’s there before you’re able to find it on their website — hidden away as it is with the stationary and books under the “lifestyle” tab toward the bottom of Zara Home’s dropdown main menu. 

The collection is quite chic, in a Montessori influencer sort of way. With the exception of a single lady bug chew toy, every piece is beige and photographed in the kind of self-serious style typical of Zara. Scrolling through the offerings, you can almost hear Hayley DeRoche’s deliciously deadpan Werner Herzog impersonation, “Welcome to Werner Herzog’s sad beige toys for sad beige pets.” 

The Zara pet collection is mostly made up of soft goods, including an assortment of cushions and a quite nice plaid and faux shearling blanket. Most of the items are well under $100 and feature natural fibers, like linen and cotton, surrounding polyester fills. 

Beige Is the Vibe

Like everything at Zara, the quality varies from item to item. For instance, a newly added plush pet bed with raised sides looks quite nice (albeit pricey at $129), while another round(ish) linen cushion, priced at just $30, looks like the pillow equivalent of the first pancake on Saturday morning — not quite circular, its tufting points forming something of an irregular quadrilateral, when it is clear what they were going for was a square. 

The toys are reasonably priced ($23 to $26), but definitely different than anything else your pup has in their toy basket. The fox toy, for instance, looks like a cross between a fox and one of those glow worm dolls from the ’80s — honestly it’s kind of great. The cotton crochet mouse, meanwhile, looks less like a mouse and more like a pig crossed with a spider. It’s all very The Island of Dr. Moreau, but beige and with floppy little rope limbs.  

There’s also a handful of minimalist rope teethers that feels like it belongs to someone’s pet in a Nancy Meyers movie, accompanied by all-white living rooms and coastal grandmother fashion. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Really. It’s just that, looking at the collection, it’s clear there is a very particular aesthetic at work here. If it’s your aesthetic, congratulations, you’ve hit the doggie jackpot, but if not, well, you’ve got plenty of other options elsewhere.

Decide What’s Worth the Price

The best items in the collection are probably the various pet beds, particularly this rattan number, which is both whimsical and elegant. Very lovely. The price, however, is not so lovely, especially for Zara: $269 for the bed and another $90 for the linen cushion that goes inside. Plus tax. Plus shipping. It does look nice, though, and who hasn’t spent more for less occasionally?

There’s also a very nice enamel pet food bowl and mango wood stand, which, at $50, is priced better than similar items from other retailers. The bowls aren’t dishwasher safe, which is a bummer, but what can you do?

Everything in the collection is made in either Portugal, India, or mainland China with two notable exceptions: the lovely rattan day bed described above, which is made in Indonesia, and the bone-shaped leather poop-bag dispenser, which is made in Spain. Fifty dollars feels a little excessive for six inches of Zara leather and a four-inch zipper, but if you love it, go for it. What’s $50 in the grand scheme of things? Well, $50 plus tax. And shipping. 

All in all, it’s a nice-looking collection, and during the time it took to write this article, Zara added multiple new items. They were all beige, of course, but attractive nonetheless. And who knows? Maybe one day they’ll spice things up with a color or a print. Probably not — Zara Home, in general, really does seem to favor beige simplicity — which, as Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give would tell you, is a perfectly lovely style to embrace.