It was an incredible plum for ERGObaby Inc., a small business on Maui.
The company’s baby carriers appeared in Parenting magazine’s 20th anniversary issue, listing 20 products the magazine’s editors were “so glad were invented in the past 20 years.”
“We were just thrilled,” said ERGObaby Sales Manager Angela Pennette.
Only 20 products made the list and the Maui-born ERGObaby carrier was right up there with portable DVD players, washable markers and the sippy cup. The May issue accolade has increased ERGObaby sales, she said.
ERGObaby founder Karin Frost created the first carrier on her sewing machine in 2001, when she couldn’t find a carrier she liked for her son, Keala Kaj. Kaj is Danish and is pronounced like the Hawaiian word kai, Pennette said.
Frost was off-island and could not be reached, but company publicity materials say she made so many more — to fulfill requests from friends and friends of friends — that she established ERGObaby in 2003.
She set up a Web site to sell the carriers and the product received Parenting’s Mom-Tested Seal of Approval in 2005.
The company now has 15 employees and distributes internationally. “It’s been wonderful,” Pennette said.
Photo from ERGO Baby Carrier, Inc.
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