Having a baby can be a life-changing experience for a woman. For Karin Frost, giving birth to her son six years ago also meant the start of a life-altering business.

Frost is the owner of ERGO Baby Carrier Inc., which produces a line of baby products that includes a popular baby carrier that she designed. The company also sells other items, such as back packs, tote bags and diaper bags, all designed by Frost.

The Maui resident was a 41-year-old first-time mom in 2001 when she felt compelled to develop a baby carrier that fit her needs. Frost said she was disappointed with the baby slings and pouches that were on the market and wanted one that kept her son as close to her body as possible, while at the same time being comfortable.

Apparently many other mothers had the same thoughts because once word got out that Frost had designed a carrier that supports the baby as well as the parent, requests started rolling in. Many parents heard of the ERGO Baby through Internet forums and other chat rooms.

"When you have a child and it's a first child, you go out looking for a lot of advice, so parents, especially moms, sit on forums and they talk and exchange information. It was through that that the ERGO really got its boost," Frost said.

What makes her product different, she said, is it allows the bulk of the baby's weight to sit on the mother's hips. The carrier also is designed so the baby's weight doesn't put much pressure on its spine.

"This happens to be a very supportive and very good way for the child to grow," Frost said.

CHINA CONNECTION

Frost started designing the carrier in April 2002 and sewed a prototype carrier that she gave to a friend five months later. She received requests for more and Frost hand-sewed the first 50 carriers, but the demand quickly exceeded her ability to produce them.

Through family friend Jeff Henderson, owner of Hot Sails Maui, Frost found a manufacturer in China to mass-produce her product. She received her first "mass order" of 200 in January 2003 and production has grown rapidly since.

Today, Frost estimates that her company sells between 10,000 and 12,000 ERGO Baby Carriers a month at a base price of $92. Her products also have gone global and Frost recently set up a subsidiary in Germany and has distributors in Canada, Australia and Korea.

In May, Parenting Magazine's 20th anniversary issue named the ERGO Baby Carrier as one of its Top 20 products in the past 20 years. The magazine based its ratings on feedback from hundreds of "mom testers" who evaluated a slew of baby items.

Frost said timing had a lot to do with the success of her company. The Internet, as well as parents with similar needs, helped her company to expand.

"It's a parenting revolution where a lot of us are just experiencing the same needs and we're very much wanting to support our child and our babies differently than the way that we maybe were," she said.

Frost said she's especially surprised because her first attempts at running a business on Maui failed miserably.

She first visited the island in the mid-1990s and worked at odd jobs. Frost lived in a Volkswagen van, showered at the beach and "just kind of juggled life."

But she loved the lifestyle so much that she returned to her Wisconsin home, sold her home and belongings and moved to Maui permanently in November 1997.

'RUDE AWAKENING'

Frost put her master's degree in clothing design to work and came out with two lines of clothing, which she admitted "weren't very successful."

"It was a rude awakening," she said. "Here in Hawai'i we have a very specialized and odd market that I didn't realize until I got full-blown into it."

Frost was preparing to move again, this time to Costa Rica, when she met her partner, Lee Lopez, at a swap meet. She did go to Costa Rica, but returned after a short time, reunited with Lopez, and they had their son, Keala Kaj.

Frost, who turns 47 in November, is a great believer in the "Continuum Concept" made popular by author Jean Liedloff. The idea is that to achieve optimal development of a child, a mother needs to keep her baby as close to her body as possible.

The ERGO Baby was designed with this in mind, Frost said.

The carrier also isn't limited to newborns or infants. Frost said she still can carry her son in the ERGO Baby and he's close to 50 pounds.

Next month, her company will launch a new baby carrier made of organic material. She also hopes to further expand her market in Asia and other countries.

Having started out just looking for a carrier to meet her needs, Frost said she still can't believe how successful her company has become.

"Oh my god," she said. "This company is just beyond my wildest dreams. I could never have envisioned this. I'm constantly blown away."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.