Alice Blastorah, along with her friend and business partner Shiran Teitelbaum, started their Unkosher Market clothing line by accident when throwing a party for a friend who had converted to Judaism.   

The pair decided to make T-shirts with funny slogans incorporating Yiddish terms for the party-goers. 

“The initial shirts we made for fun got a lot of traction on Instagram. People kept asking us and our friends where they got them,” says Blastorah. 

The social media craze surrounding the shirts eventually caught the attention of Glenn Feldman, former CEO of L.A. department store chain Kitson, and the three of them sat down to determine how to turn the T-shirts into a business. 

Blastorah, a Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts grad, already had some experience in the clothing business. 

“I actually had a clothing line in high school too. It was called Fikus, and we sold at the MuchMusic store and some other Toronto boutiques,” she says. 

“I knew I always wanted to mix creative with business. I’ve always loved the idea of blending the two.” 

Blastorah attended Cardinal Carter for their visual arts program but says she always knew she would also be an entrepreneur. 

“I love being able to have full creative control over a project, so I always knew I would have to work for myself in some sort of capacity,” she says. 

Blastorah and Teitelbaum locally source their fabric and produce their line in Los Angeles where they are based, though they are both Canadians with roots in Toronto. 

“There’s too much disposable fashion these days, and it’s so bad for the environment,” says Blastorah. 

The line currently consists of eight women’s sleeveless T-shirts with a different saying on each one ranging from “matzah ballin’” to “totes koshe” and “schmuck off.” 

“We’re working on the men’s collection right now and some other things we’ll keep as a surprise,” says Blastorah. 

Her personal favourite saying out of the current collection is “not in the tribe, but I dig the vibe.” 

“Funnily enough, I’m not Jewish, but I dig the culture,” she says. 

Although the Unkosher Market is steadily growing in popularity, it is not currently Blastorah and Teitelbaum’s full-time gig. The pair both work at an advertising agency. 

“We’re a creative team there, and it’s a ton of fun. I’m an art director and Shiran is my copywriter. Let’s just say we spend a lot of time together. We’ve gotten to the point we can communicate without speaking,” says Blastorah. 

She says their trick to balancing full-time careers while running their own business is delegation. 

“There’s no way we could do everything ourselves, so we’ve got some help to handle the day-to-day work.”