CUDDLY CRITTERS: Entrepreneur Josh Title has made a name for himself with Cate & Levi Collection’s stuffed animals and puppets. (PHOTO: Ann Ruppenstein/Toronto Today)
It was 6:30 a.m. when toymaker Josh Title realized his latest Cate & Levi Collection prototype — a stuffed monkey his son calls Freddy — would be a success.
“When he comes into my room in the morning dragging Freddy by his hand, when he’s got 40 other animals on his bed, I just know that we have a hit on our hands,” he says. “Having children at the ages of five and two is a huge help.”
The Forest Hill resident’s line of one-of-a-kind stuffed animals, puppets, clothes and wall art, which are handmade from reclaimed materials like wool sweaters, were featured on The Marilyn Denis Show when Elton John used one of their monkey puppets for an on-air monologue.
It also landed Title on The Martha Stewart Show.
“It was very nerve wracking. It doesn’t totally fit my personality but I’m glad that I did it,” he says. “[Stewart] is a true crafter and really just wanted to talk about the product and the design and the making of it and it was really an amazing experience.”
Since the company launched three and a half years ago, Cate & Levi gained international distribution, has a successful e-store and is available in over 500 stores. Most recently it teamed up with Los Angeles-based American Apparel for a new line of cotton products.
“They’re now sending us their scraps from their hooded sweatshirts, which is a beautiful soft cotton material and amazing bright colours,” he says. “Now it’s a question of, well, what other companies are out there that are throwing out what they think is waste but which we could turn into gold.”
Title, who studied law but changed career paths, came up with the idea for the business after his first son was born.
“I was inspired again to get creative and I thought it would be really cool to make unique one-of-a-kind items that I would want to give to him and then it sort of started from there with just a small collection of stuffed animals,” he says.
Title enjoys the creative process of developing new products and working in his studio, which he picked largely because he’s close enough to bike home from work to see his kids for lunch.
“Levi is my son and Cate was his friend at the time when we started the business,” he says. “And then we had another son, Harry, so one day we’ll definitely have to work Harry into the picture.”
