I am at the ABC Kids Show this week in Las Vegas, checking out the newest and most innovative products on the market to bring to Diaper Daisy. My experience at the show kicked off last night with Cotton Babies retailer training. During the training, Cotton Babies introduced two new product lines to retailers, Econobum and Flip.
Econobum is designed as a basic cloth diapering system for people wanting to minimize diapering costs. It is a one size prefold and cover system that can fit children from approximately 8-35 pounds. The prefold is designed like a flat with 100% unbleached cotton, six layers across, and sewn with fold lines to guide users in folding for each size. The cover, which will only come in white, has a three-row snap rise like bumGenius products do. One row of snaps is used to secure the diaper to the baby.
The Econobum will be sold in two different packages. Individual packages, with one cover and one prefold, will retail for $9.95. There will also be a Full Kit, which will include 12 prefolds and 3 covers, retailing for $49.95. Using this kit, someone could easily cloth diaper their child from birth to potty training for $100. These diapers will begin shipping to retailers in November.
The Flip is the other product line that Cotton Babies is launching. The Flip is a one size diapering system. There is a one size cover which functions very much like the cover to the organic all-in-one diapers that bumGenius currently sells. The cover has stretchy tabs and two rows of snaps on the closure, and three rows of snaps to adjust the rise. An absorbant layer is laid into the cover and tucked into flaps at each end. By designing the product this way, parents of a choice of inserts to use, and can mix and match as needed. This cover will start out in three bumGenius colors: Ribbit, Moonbeam, and Zinnia. More colors will be added to the line-up at a later date.
There are three different inserts available. The first is a stay dry insert. This is a microfiber insert that has a stay dry layer on top. The second choice is an organic cotton insert, which is similar to the prefold insert in the Econobum. Finally, Cotton Babies is selling a disposable insert to use in the flip. It is a long strip of disposable material that can be folded to fit into the diaper. The insert is supposedly compostable and biodegradable, and should lay inside any Cotton Babies product, including the Econobum and bumGenius diapers (so feasibly, you could lay this on top of a 3.0). The disposable flip insert is designed to help parents stick as much with cloth as possible while on the go. Jenn did not have information about the amount of SAP gel (the absorbent material in the diaper) or the absorbency rating on the disposable inserts, but we hope to get that information by the end of the show.
The Flip will sell in a few different packages. Individual packages will be sold with one cover and one insert. The Stay Dry diaper will retail for $16.95, and the Organic Cotton diaper will retail for $19.95. The Flip will also be sold in Day Packs, including two covers and six inserts, with the Stay Dry retailing for $49.95 and the Organic Cotton for $59.95. The disposable inserts will be sold in packages of 18 for $4.95. It will ship to retailers early next year.
Cotton Babies’ bumGenius product line, its tried and true product, will remain unchanged. There are no plans to add snaps to the 3.0 as the Flip now has that option.
Some other changes were announced at the retailer training last night. Cotton Babies will be extending its 14-day guarantee to 30 days. This means a customer has 30 days to try a Cotton Babies product while still being able to return it. Please contact us for more information.
In addition, Cotton Babies is changing its washing recommendations for all of its product lines. The company is now recommending that all covers be line dried. This is because their research has shown that people who do line dry their covers do not have incidences of elastic or velcro failure.
I am hoping I covered everything here. Questions? Comments? Be sure to let me know.
I can’t wait to bring you more updates from the ABC Show! I will be spending much of the day today in meetings with the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA). The RDIA is an industry group for cloth diaper manufacturers, retailers, and diaper services. I am really looking forward to meeting so many of my counterparts in person and learning more about the industry. If you have questions about the show, or something you would like to hear more about, just let me know. 
I am finally at home in Chicago with my family. These last few days have been a wild and crazy ride, but I am so excited about all of the new products and innovations I have seen and all of the new developments in the cloth diaper industry championed by the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA).
