Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2010 | Page 22

life

INTERVIEW

February/March 2010
pains to foster happy relations with the
factory in the Midlands, making frequent
trips there to chat with the sewing ladies
about their favourite Raggy-Tag designs.
The result is she can call on last-minute
favours: “So if I suddenly need a sample
sent off to Japan I can ring up, ask for
the Japanese swing ticket and the extra
Japanese packaging, they’ll do it and
are interested to know where they are
going.”
It’s an approach from which many
business people could learn: the
difference human contact makes.
It requires, of course, a certain
self-confidence, and this Tori can attribute
to her mother. “She always stressed
that we should have the means to rely
on ourselves,” she says. Tori’s mother
certainly set an unequivocal example:
she took a job at a theatrical agency
and despite having had no previous
experience in the world of luvvies, she
ended up taking it over, handling the
affairs of the actors. Tori’s younger sister
is herself a successful actress in Denmark,
and has just written her first screenplay.

toy was just a bulky distraction from the

cuddly velvet, edged with a variety of

Her youngest sister works in the City in

label.

ribbony tags. Raggy-Tag was born.

recruitment.

“I talked to Steve about it and he said

But this isn’t so much the story of

With the self-reliance thing drummed

I should make something,” she laughed.

Tori’s business as what it reveals about

into her from an early age you might

“I reminded him I was barely capable of

her. Having started it she wasn’t about

expect the hardness associated with many

sewing on his shirt buttons.”

to be daunted by the tests required for

women in business. What strikes you as

European safety standards, and the even

remarkable about Tori Trimming is that

more stringent Japanese safety standards.

she recognises the need to unite to get

So she approached the most stunningly
stylish mum at Grace’s school with her
notion, who turned out to be a brilliant
seamstress. It was the start of Raggy-Tag,
the acceptable face of a comfort blanket.
Tori and stylish Rachel experimented with
fabrics and shapes, interested a baby shop
in the idea, and went into production.
“This process, just researching how to

She asks: ‘Have you
heard that expression:
What would you do
today if you knew you
could not fail?’

to her second Isle of Wight idea. “There
is no Women in Business network. It
would be great to have an environment, a
support network, where women can go to
discuss their business. I think there are an
awful lot of women who underestimate
what they can do, who just need a bit of

go about making a children’s toy took
ages,” says Tori. “It’s all about the dye,

the best out of everyone. Which brings us

Yes, Japanese! Raggy-Tag is truly global.

steering in the right direction.”

The interesting thing, and surely one of

She envisages an informal environment

types of fabrics, the safety aspect. It was

the keys to its success is that the process

where knowledge can be pooled. Women

huge. But once started we just had to go

of going from yummy mummy with a

might stand up and talk, but off the cuff:

with it.”

child-indulgent idea to proprietor of an

“You don’t need to pressure to have to

Giving the product a name seemed

internationally successful business, is

prepare anything,” she says, adding:

finally to legitimise it. By now it was a

that she nurtures it in the same way as

“Men could be invited if they were in a

square, made of soft cotton lawn and

she does her children. She has been at

similar situation to most women – house

how strong the stitching needs to be, the

22

Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com