Why subscription giftbox DTC FabFitFun is buying PupBox from Petco

Nobody wants to be put in a box, even a company famous for putting things in boxes. Take FabFitFun, the DTC brand that’s sold subscription gift boxes targeted at women—with products spanning beauty, fashion, fitness, and wellness—for 12 years. It’s now expanding to target a member of the household who’s adorable (but not a child) and hirsute (but not a spouse).

The company has acquired PupBox, a monthly subscription box for dogs, from Petco, for a price that FabFitFun declined to disclose.

Paws marketing: Daniel Broukhim, co-CEO and co-founder of FabFitFun, told Retail Brew that PupBox will continue to “maintain its own identity and character.” Asked if it might bundle the two subscriptions together in the future for a cheaper price than getting them individually, he said such details are TBD.

“It’s probably something we’ll look at,” Broukhim replied. “There’s a good chance that there’s going to be some sort of bundling like that.”

According to FabFitFun, 61% of its subscribers have dogs, well over the 44.6% of Americans overall who do, per American Veterinary Medical Association data.

Launched in 2014 by Ariel and Ben Zvaifler, who are married and who built buzz for PupBox when they appeared on Shark Tank in 2016, the brand was acquired by Petco in 2017.

Too Musk information: Like their newly acquired customers who are house-training puppies, FabFitFun knows what it’s like to step in something extremely unpleasant.

In November, as brands were pulling ads from X after owner Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic tweet, Musk proclaimed at a New York Times event, “If someone is going to blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.”

In a since-deleted paid X post, FabFitFun announced it was “pledging an additional $100k of X advertising in support of its free speech ideals” and promoted a subscription deal that could be redeemed with the code, GoFuckYourself.

Following backlash from consumers who said they were canceling their subscriptions, the brand apologized, but the headlines (Fortune: “FabFitFun, a $1 billion subscription box startup, frantically backpedals after a profane, pro-Elon Musk ad bombs”) live on.

“Obviously the language that we chose was an error in judgment,” Broukhim told Retail Brew last week. “We’ve learned from it and we’ve moved on, and our customers I think for the most part have forgiven us.”