“The big guy,” as she refers to her corporate competitors, didn’t have any sizes for her in-between-extra-small-and-small frame. That’s why Kristen DeRocha first created the baby-holding sashes now known as Hotslings. “I never intended to start a business,” she says. Then a friend brought her some material to make another. “She forced me to take money, and I thought that was ridiculous,” DeRocha says. “I didn’t need money; I did this because it was fun.” Word-of-mouth and online parenting message boards kept the sewing machines humming in her 1939-vintage Little Forest Hills garage, until finally her operations grew so large that DeRocha had to move into a warehouse. She’s on pace to make 200,000 Hotslings this year, doubling last year’s production. “The thing that’s the craziest is I hadn’t realized that I had done something cool until after I had done it,” DeRocha says. It’s partly her sizing grade that makes her contraption for babies and toddlers so popular, but hip moms can’t get enough of DeRocha’s stylish fabrics. Next up is a line of breastfeeding tops for the modern mom called Milk Daze. And ultimately, DeRocha says, “I want to go back to being a parent because the whole point of this was to stay home with my kids.”
To purchase a Hotsling, visit Green Living in Lakewood Shopping Center or Baby Bliss in Snider Plaza. Visit hotslings.com for information.
