If Cori and Bobbi Windsor had listened to the adages “never do business with family” or “stick to what you know,” they’d never be where they are today.
On a whim, the sisters started a women’s sportswear line in 2007 and, since then, TerraFrog‘s grown from an online shop to a brand carried in about 25 stores across North America. It’s also getting them attention from Hollywood: Last Emmys, Nancee Borgnine, daughter of the late actor Ernest Borgnine, invited them to set up a table of giveaways.
Neither sister has a background in textiles or entrepreneurship. “I took shop in high school,” jokes Cori, a former nurse who specialized in organ recovery. She and Bobbi, a former teacher, put their careers on hold when, by coincidence, each had a child who developed health problems that made returning to work impossible.
“We couldn’t go back,” says Cori, but what they could do was start a home business. Since they were having difficulty finding yoga tops or bottoms that were long enough for their tall torsos and long legs, they designed their own. “Through trial and error we figured it out,” says Cori. Several people asked where they got them and the answer – home – was always cause for surprise.
Now, though, the answer is a factory in Toronto, where they send their designs.The clothes are made from materials likerecycled plastic. But, for Cori, it’s the newcareer that feels so good on her: “I love being covered in thread and going home like a pin cushion. I love every minute of it.”
