I wrote a little while back about the insanity that’s taking place in cloth diapering circles. It’s a humorous piece giving let’s just say a cartoonish voice to things you wish you could say during one of these dramatic encounters. Zoinks! If the picture above looks familiar, then you’ve probably already seen it, if not, then click the following link to see my post to END DIAPER DRAMA. I actually kind of thought that it was a one time thing, but lately it seems like drama is getting to be the norm. Some of this stems from limited edition cloth diapers. Now, certain manufacturers have always had limited edition or low release diapers, but they were WAHMs or true unicorn diapers (unreachable by almost everyone because of their rarity and expense), but now some major brands are getting on the LE bandwagon. When you bring that unicorn notion to the mainstream, especially at regular prices, that’s when the real drama begins. Over diapers, really? So the question is, does this help or hinder the cloth diaper world? Yes, we have our own world.

For manufacturers, the limited edition provides many positives:

Hype. Let’s face it, drama = serious $$$. Yes, like Cabbage Patch in 1984 and Tickle Me Elmo in 1997, people are FIGHTING over these limited edition diapers. “Everyone” wants the it diaper and must have it. Everyone know it’s coming, but not when! People are saving their hard earned cash for months until that special day that a certain print finally is released….and whether you like it or not, you might just press that ‘buy now’ button. Because you don’t to want to regret not buying it, right?

It sells itself: It’s a great way to influx cash with basically no marketing. Your customers do it for you.

New customer retention: If you miss this one, then there’s always another one coming, and it keeps people hanging on waiting to see what’s next-especially if they’re new to cloth diapering.

No leftover stock. We’ve all seen the attempts to get rid of failed colors-buy $x get this color free, here’s a package of one diaper you want and 2 that no one really wants! With a set number of diapers, plenty will be disappointed, but the manufacturers won’t to be stuck with them five years later, either.

Influence in the retailer community: There’s got to be a lot of schmoozing happening by the retailers who want to get the release stocked ASAP, get more diapers per batch, be considered first in line for shipments, etc. We’re humans, and on some level, being in demand feels good.

There are some obvious negatives, mostly for the rest of the community:

Creation of a scalper’s market: Good for the scalper, bad for anyone who wants one at retail and can’t get it.

Poor customer service: It’s hard to replace a limited edition diaper that has manufacturer defects if there aren’t any left.

Retailer tension: If you’re not picked for a release or get fewer diapers, customers won’t flock to you the next time around. There are easily 10x as many people looking for a print to stock at retailers than they can possibly supply. It puts the burden of crashed websites, items stolen re-listed out of a person’s cart who isn’t fast enough with the credit card number entry, all on them. They take the heat from all the disappointed would-be buyers who have a bad taste in their mouths. Which leads to….

re-listed out of a person’s cart who isn’t fast enough with the credit card number entry, all on them. They take the heat from all the disappointed would-be buyers who have a bad taste in their mouths. Which leads to…. The ‘bad taste in the mouth’ phenomena which takes several forms: The poor getting poorer–people who can’t afford a diaper until the end of the month, have slow internet, don’t have a retail store close by, etc. These people are going to end up feeling like losers at some point. It breeds contempt. Especially if they have to choose to decide to pay a scalper’s price for it a week, a month, a year later. Brand loyalist alienation–those people with every single color and print, those double rainbows that go unfulfilled, that’s a bitter pill to swallow. Hard to impress–these are the people that have been around for a while. They might be on their 2nd or 3rd child and just looking for something fun. They have money to spend, but they’re not impressed by every single thing out there. They want it to be special. Since tastes vary so widely, it’s hard to capture these old-timers attentions. They don’t want to be in the fray. It’s annoying. They have better things to do than sit by the computer and stalk each store as it stocks in somewhat frenzied desperation. They’re the old guard– and they’re not happy that diapering has become a competition and something to fight over. They see their hard-won community crumbling into a mess of nay-saying newbies and bragging, ‘I got it first, see our OTB shot’ before half the internet even knows there’s a new print out there. It’s disheartening.



So what have we learned from all of this? The few people that have delamination issues or broken snaps on a new favorite are going to be heartbroken and disillusioned. The alienated brand loyalists and old guard (been there done that) are going to likely start mentioning other brands when they are confronted with those new to cloth instead of suggesting brands that seem unattainable. Will there be a fallout? Perhaps. It will be something that’s chipped away at a little at a time. But, since the hype is way more potent than the loyally discontent? It seems like limited editions are here to stay. Those few negatives aren’t enough to outweigh the positives that make big bucks for a brand. Are they good for the industry as a whole? That remains to be seen. In order to find out about these LE’s, you have to join specific groups or stalk certain websites. These sites are not always positive. Who really wants to join in a cultural movement where people are nasty to each other? Where the only group you might join fights all the time and attacks other moms for a purchase, for selling something, for not selling something, for having an opinion that isn’t the same as yours? Where just a few years ago there was a strong community of people who enjoyed sharing information, it’s become a knock-down drag out where the more seasoned stay away, because there’s nothing for them. Instead of being warmly welcomed or helped when you have wash issues, the first response is ‘what do you have to sell? any hard to finds?’ not ‘let me help you troubleshoot’…. you might be drawing in more people because of the hype, you’re less likely to have them stay because of the tone of the overall community. I’ll leave the conclusions up to you.

Remembering that this is a page that requests kindness…What do you think?