The founders of TotsBots, which makes nappies from bamboo and recycled plastic bottles in the east end of Glasgow, have sold their company to Cornish clothing brand Frugi.
Fiona and Magnus Smyth founded TotsBots at their kitchen table in 2001 and have grown it into a business that turns over £3 million a year and employs 75 workers. They have also sold Bloom & Nora, their reusable sanitary pad brand, to Frugi and have taken an equity stake in the enlarged business.
True, a retailer and consumer sector investment firm with £200 million of funds under management, bought a majority stake in Frugi in 2018 and has pumped further cash into the business to finance the acquisition. True refused to reveal how much had been paid for the two Scottish brands.
Frugi was launched in 2004 by Kurt and Lucy Jewson after they struggled to find clothes to fit over cloth nappies. The company will use the Glasgow facility to develop its products. True said the Glasgow factory would remain open and that more workers would be hired when the business grows. Lucy has a long-standing relationship with Fiona and Magnus, which helped to seal the deal.
Fiona added: “We have spent 19 years developing, manufacturing and selling environmentally friendly reusable nappies. It has always been our mission to make the best products, in the kindest way possible to our planet, inspiring and enabling parents to make choices that have a positive environmental impact for the future of their children.
“Frugi, and Lucy in particular, have been such an inspiration to our brand and bringing our company together with Frugi is the best possible outcome for us, our customers, our suppliers and the environment. With such close alignment to our own brand mission and values, we are really excited for the journey ahead.”
