Hemp Diapers Lead List of Cloth Diaper Innovations
If you are brand new to parenting and therefore to diapers, and have heard of hemp diapers, prepare to be dazzled. If you are a veteran parent but have not looked at diapers in two or three years, you might as well pretend you are a beginner; preparing to be dazzled. If you soon will become a grandparent and your children show-up with a grandchild swaddled in some newfangled thing they call a “two-layer diaper system,” heave a long sigh, accepting that diapers have evolved almost as quickly as computers and the internet. In 2009, diaper designers scored all kinds of breakthroughs, forever changing how we shop and for what we shop when we seek diapers. Among the most radical—and the most promising—innovations, diaper wizards have perfected the art of weaving diapers from a 55/45 blend of hemp and organic cotton.
Hemp diapers “naturally” make sense.
Hemp diapers number among the greatest diaper innovations to hit the market in 2009, and they rapidly are gaining both acceptance and market share. Hemp’s immanent properties make it ideal for diapers: Measure for measure, three times stronger than cotton, hemp is the strongest natural fiber known to humankind, and it outperforms most synthetic fibers, too. Softer and considerably more absorbent than all-cotton or cotton-and-synthetic diapers, hemp nappies grow softer and more absorbent with repeated washing. In addition to its tensile strength, hemp number’s among Mother Nature’s most durable fibers. Although hemp fabrics bio-degrade relatively quickly and easily, making them ideal for composting, it probably will make even greater economic sense to recycle most hemp diapers, because they easily will last through three or four babies’ two-to-three years of diaper use.
Hemp Diapers: Ancient fabric meets post-modern technology.
Old-fashioned cloth diapers, awkward and unruly cotton squares, often doubled at the center for longer wear, challenged parents’ ingenuity and dexterity. Extremely difficult to fit snugly around baby’s waist and legs, traditional cotton diapers required huge pins, which grew dull with repeated use and therefore had greater and greater difficulty penetrating heavy cotton fabric. The result: impatient, uncomfortable, squirmy babies who wanted to get back to their explorations of the great big world all around and brooked no diaper-delay.
Most new cloth diapers, whether all-cotton or cotton-hemp blends, now work as part of a two-layer system. The outer layer, thicker, more coarsely textured, and equipped with snaps or Velcro closures, has a diaper pocket inside. Instead of changing the whole diaper, mom changes the washable or flushable diaper liner and quickly, dexterously fits and secures the system to baby. “Wrappers” come in a variety of sizes, and wrapper proportions change to fit securely and comfortably on crawling and then toddling children. Just as importantly, wrappers come in a wide variety of fashion colors and prints.
In 2000, only one person made hemp cloth diapers with fitted inserts, and she naturally earned a reputation as a “hippie freak” and firebrand radical. Now at least half-a-dozen hemp diaper makers fiercely compete for choosy parents’ business. Because hemp remains scarce, and because only one Chinese mill produces the majority of the world’s hemp-organic cotton blend, manufacturers’ competition has focused on design innovations. None of them enjoys the luxury of initiating a price war for the sake of gaining market share. Although the shape of a baby’s body limits design innovations, different manufacturers have improved on waistbands, leg openings, closures, the diaper pocket inside, and systems’ overall absorbency. In addition to improvements in functional features, designers have taken a few bold fashion-forward steps, too, adding back pockets and “cargo” looks to wrappers, or adding lace and other trim to young ladies’ wrappers.
Tags: hemp cloth diapers, hemp diaper inserts, hemp diapers, hemp fitted diaper, organic diapers
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