44. Trends in Absorbent Baby Products pt. 1 with Natalia Richer

This episode is sponsored by Cotton Incorporated and their B2B focused website, CottonWorks.

If you’d like to learn more about cotton as a natural leader in the global baby care market, you can do so on CottonWorks.

Staying informed about current global trends in the absorbent hygiene industry can be challenging. Fortunately, our guest Natalia Richer has a better vantage than most. As COO of Diaper Testing International (DTI), Natalia sees what companies around the world are working on. In the first of a two-part series, she and ‘Attached to Hygiene’ host Jack Hughes discuss DTI and some of the biggest trends they see in baby diapers.

Diaper Testing International: Evaluating products from around the world

As the industry evolves, manufacturers look to make changes and assess new designs. DTI offers these producers a host of analytical tests and product user group studies. Determining rewet, strikethrough (speed of acquisition), capacity, creep, and peel are typical. But to truly bridge the gap between lab data and user experience, parent testing and usage diaries are invaluable. In the future, DTI’s testing may also become more specific to age and size group. This is because, as babies grow and their movements change, different design elements are needed to protect against leakage.

Elastics are valued for improved fit and leak protection

Over the last few years, stretch has been proving a key feature in delivering both ergonomic fit and better leak protection. Some companies have been quick to adopt elastics at the waist and other locations, whilst others have been slower to expand their use in products. One key benefit of waist and belly elastics is their ability to ensure fit as food is digested. Babies’ waistlines contract markedly as food is absorbed—far more than in adults. Because of this, diapers that fit snugly at mealtime become loose if parents do not adjust them appropriately. The resulting gaps can increase the chance of leakage. Conversely, elastics correct the fit automatically, keeping the insult where it belongs.

Pant diapers thrive in newer absorbent hygiene markets

Across the globe, pant-style diapers have been gaining ground. Parents enjoy the simplicity of pulling on a diaper, especially as a growing baby begins to resist or struggle during diaper changes. In developing markets, pants are very popular. Some brands in India even offer them in newborn sizes. More mature markets like the US and Europe typically label pants as a ‘potty training aid’, which tends to keep demand low. However, some smaller brands are promoting pants for other age groups.

Outline of the Episode

• [5:29] Natalia enjoys the world of diapers because it is dynamic and always evolving
• [9:45] Parental stress, the need for convenience, and the impact of failures
• [16:12] The industry’s most common tests are not dependent on diaper size; they do not fully reflect user experience as babies grow and their movements change
• [20:41] Other tests evaluate the whole product for features like sizing, as well as creep and peel performance
• [23:23] Regiona