Activewear line grows 1 pair of leggings at a time
Former dentist, nurse leave their jobs behind to impact health on a different scale, starting P’tula
Even though Sami and Scott Bossert both worked in the health care industry – she as a nurse and he as a dentist – the Upper Arlington couple longed to find a way to impact people’s health on a greater scale.
Turns out that opportunity would come in the form of leggings.
It’s not as big of a leap as some might think, they said.
“Clothing is something everybody feels good in,” said Scott Bossert, 40. “Even when you can’t do the exercise to the fullest or the entire workout.”
The husband-and-wife duo founded the activewear company P’tula in December 2016 with the launch of roughly a half dozen pieces that sold out in minutes.
The two believe that if they can foster wellness and prevention within their community, virtual or otherwise, that’s where their greater impact might lie.
It helped, too, that Scott’s undergraduate degree is in product design and he loves to draw. Sami, who also worked as a personal trainer, already had a large, loyal following on Instagram where she posted workout videos and fitness tips.
“Why not make them feel good from week one?” said Sami, 32. “We wanted to give people activewear that fits all shapes and bodies and give them something to celebrate even before they make a transformation. It makes that journey possible.”
The past five years, the company has grown to support 10 full-time employees, including three fashion designers, and they’ve moved most of the business out of their garage to a Hilliard warehouse, which they’ve quickly outgrown.
They now send leggings, sports bras and other fitness- and lounge-related styles to at least 35 countries and have nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram.
The growth of their company and their passion for it prompted both of them to step away from their careers in health care. They said they were grateful because those jobs financed P’tula without investors.
Helping people remains their calling. “I want to help women and men before they get to the point where they’re on medications or in the hospital,” Sami said.
The company’s unusual name stands for “passion to unite and live active.”
Though neither had clothing design experience, Sami said she set out to make what she felt was lacking in athleisure wear.
She went through a lot of trial and error, with the help of Scott’s drawings and sewing, to perfect her initial styles.
“A lot of athleisure is not very flattering on women,” Sami said. “There are a lot of harsh lines. What I found is you need a lot of curves – like scooped hems and longer tops.”
She said it also helps to make pieces more versatile, such as a top that can tie for a different style.
“It’s not in-your-face sexy but more everyday,” Scott said.
Also, they created pieces they wanted to wear, such as a maternity line — Sami is pregnant with the couple’s second son. P’tula also just launched its largest men’s collection.
The brand added handheld exercise equipment, such as resistance bands, during the pandemic when everyone was stuck at home doing their workouts.
“We have customers who have placed over 100 orders,” Sami said. “We have a lot of P’tula addicts. Actually most of our customers are P’tula addicts. We have a 94% customer retention rate.”
Ada Undis said she buys something nearly every release, which typically happens monthly.
The 27-year-old from Nashville, Indiana, became familiar with the brand after she saw a friend wearing it.
“When I ordered my first pair of leggings, from the first time I put them on, I thought ‘OK, these fit me exactly how I want them to fit me,’” Undis said. “I didn’t have that feeling when I put on other leggings.”
She said that despite her different build – higher, square hips and her height of 5 feet, 10 inches – the leggings fit like a glove.
The Bare line of comfy loungewear has been her favorite collection so far, especially since she’s been working from home the past 18 months. She even has her mother in Poland wearing the clothing line regularly.
But even more so, Undis and other followers appreciate the authenticity they feel P’tula and its creators bring to the social media world.
“Another thing I love about them is how they work with real people, real bodies,” Undis said. “It’s not that retouched, catered marketing that shows off flawless, almost mannequin-like, models.”
The community P’tula has built online is one of the main reasons that Westerville resident Katherine Heppner keeps returning as a customer.
The price point for the leggings, while Heppner said was much lower than other brands like Lululemon Athletica, initially made her hesitate. The most expensive P’tula legging is $79.
But the single mom is glad she splurged on her first pair three years ago.
“I never bought another brand of leggings again,” Heppner, 29, said. “The quality – the leggings I bought three years ago, I can still wear them.”
Rarely a day goes by when Paula Shotell, who lives near Buffalo, New York, doesn’t wear something from P’tula.
Sure, she’s supporting her son and daughter-in-law’s business, but she truly believes they’ve created an awesome product.
“I have everything, and it’s not just because it’s them,” said Shotell, who used to wear a lot of Lululemon clothing.
Shotell said it was strange to hear her son would be giving up dentistry – her father was a dentist. But, she said it’s been fun watching the company and the community surrounding it grow.
Running a business instead of working a 9-to-5 job isn’t without its challenges, Scott said.
He and Sami do everything from cutting fabric to calling manufacturers to dropping off packages at the shipping vendor in addition to thinking about big-picture concepts, such as how to stay competitive in a market that’s becoming more saturated while still maintaining their quality and mission.
And he still gets the occasional sideways comment about him quitting dentistry “to sell T-shirts.”
“We have a lot of employees and they have 401(k)s,” he said.
In the end, he and Sami feel they are really making an impact on people and their journeys to healthier, more active lifestyles.
“Hospital-based medicine, all medicine, is very reactive,” Scott said. “People don’t want to think about the things they need to do to change their life. They say, ‘Fix me.’ Here, we are speaking to people who want to listen, and we can have a dialogue back and forth.” award@dispatch.com @Allisonaward