Why do nappy companies use the same fabrics?

[JA1988]

Bit of a pointless thread but as the title says, it seems that some fabrics are cropping up time and time again but under a different brand name, for example there is a blue paisley print used on Baby blush nappies and the same fabric is available on Rosie Boo pockets. Then there is a minkee ladybug design which you can get on Gen y wraps but you can also get exact same fabric on Rosie Boo's. Then Baby blush have a 'jam session' design with guitars on, but it is the same fabric used for weehuggers wraps and a discontinued Gen y wrap design. Like I said, maybe a pointless thread, but surely the designers would want their nappies to be unique, kind of kills the idea of a custom nappy doesn't it?

 

[mummyclo]

Im not sure there is that much choice tbh. I have looked for fabric myself and ALWAYS find the same old stuff!

 

[Eala]

I would imagine there is only so much fabric manufactured which people feel is of good enough quality to make nappies with? I know some places do limited runs of hand-dyed fabric (HL, WNs and so on) but I'd imagine doing that takes too much time to produce to use them exclusively.

 

[Rachel_C]

Yes it's difficult to find suitable material (it needs to wash well, time after time, year after year, for example) and it's expensive to get your own fabrics made.

 

[mandarhino]

I think there is a limited number of minky manufacturers so people buy what they can get. I suspect the nappy companies buy from the same people.

With cotton though, there's way more choice available so not sure why you see the same prints come up again and again.

 

[JA1988]

Yeah I suppose that makes sense, I guess it just seemed a bit weird to me that a lot of these manufacturers sell their products based on exclusivety, limited editions and discontinuing designs every few months like gen y for example, when really the patterns are likely to be available from a different brand! I don't really know much about the cost of fabrics etc but I guess the high prics of suitable materials must be very limiting.

 

[jessabella]

yeah but for some of us ..this could be an advantage..so if there is a nappy that you dont get on with ..it doenst neccessarily mean you cant have that print ...incase it is printed in another nappy that happens to work for you..also its not just the design that sells to me..its the way it is produced and shaped...type of closures and inserts..ect..

 

[flubdub]

I've wondered this too. Seems crazy to me.

 

[Kaites]

In most cases these diaper "manufacturers" are really just very successful WAHMs (or at least started as WAHMs)- most of the WAHM businesses in the US do business with the same suppliers and aren't big enough to have their own prints made

 

[mommy43]

i was just gonna say what jessabella said
when i started i found a few that i loved the print but the nappy didnt work well for us n have gone on to find the same print in a wn so i guess it works both ways
i guess theres also some that only use one brand too they get to have all the nice prints too

 

[Rachel_C]

yeah but for some of us ..this could be an advantage..so if there is a nappy that you dont get on with ..it doenst neccessarily mean you cant have that print ...incase it is printed in another nappy that happens to work for you..also its not just the design that sells to me..its the way it is produced and shaped...type of closures and inserts..ect..

I'd definitely say it's an advantage for this reason. For example, pocket nappies just don't work for us so if a print was only available in a pocket nappy brand, I would be really sad!

 

[Jetters]

In most cases these diaper "manufacturers" are really just very successful WAHMs (or at least started as WAHMs)- most of the WAHM businesses in the US do business with the same suppliers and aren't big enough to have their own prints made

This! Rosie Boo for example is a WAHM, Baby Blush started off as a small WAHM and is now a big business.

It would take a HUGE company with lots of money and a biiiig turnover to make thieir own fabric design- cos if it's just them using it, it would cost a fortune to make a design up just for yourself to use- the machinery etc is VERY expensive. Tots Bots and BGs are the only two I can think of off the top of my head who use their own, copyrighted, designs...

 

[Rachel_C]

Also, if one manufacturer makes something in a new fabric and people really like it, other manufacturers could be missing a trick if they didn't use it themselves. It's very nice to be different to everybody else but if being different (i.e. not using really popular fabrics because other people use them) loses you money, that's not a great way to do business.