How do non-abdl diaper companies like NorthShore find out about ABDL?

I saw a post earlier about Northshore having an ABDL page and it got me thinking about how these companies that primarily deal with non-ABDL related products discover the ABDL community. Is it really that obvious to search for that it accidentally comes up?
btw did I mention how cool it is though that they are supportive? It's nice not to be seen as a freak by companies outside of ABDL.

Interesting question. SweetPrincess. Do a Google search for "adult diaper" and you'll get an eyeful, as I'm sure you already know. I'm confident that before Adam invested in NorthShore there was a great deal of research put in. But let's imagine for a moment that he never learned about us before he opened his doors. Although we may be discrete and reserved about this, ahem, predilection, not everyone is.

I sold shoes many, many years ago, and one guy in particular, who CLEARLY had a foot fetish, just wanted to tell everyone about it, in the creepiest way possible. He would call the store and ask what we were wearing and come in to try on shoes and point out that his toenails were painted. Frequently. These are the kinds of people in our community who can't wait to show of their diapers in public and tell some poor, unsuspecting phone sales assistant that he just loves a big, heavy, wet diaper.

I'm confident that we were no secret before NorthShore opened its doors, and was well known before too long.

-RMS

Basically what RMS said. The only problem is that the creepers are a lot more outspoken and visible than the normal ABDL's, so while companies almost certainly were aware of us, they made it a point to stay as far away from us as possible at least until recently when most of the creepers became marginalized.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it even influenced their diaper design, trying to make them less appealing to the fetish market while having no impact on their core market.

If you ask most of the vendors will tell you that they do a good bit of business on the ABDL side. The issue to them is whether they want to put up with it. Some people specialize in just bilking medicare/medicaid but others are truly customer-centric regardless of what the customer motivations are. Of course, this is only made difficult by people who make statements to sales people that are off-color (the woman who answers the phone does not want to be your mommy. She'll be happy to describe the products for you and is OK that you just like to wear them, but she doesn't want to play with you).

The creepers. Sigh. They are the primary reason I struggled for so long with those disgusting feelings about myself! They are the most visible part of our community and I assumed the majority of ABDLs were like that. That's why I resisted my own acceptance for so long. Then I join this place and find out that I'm actually very (in a relative sense) normal here.

NeverKnow said:

Several years ago, Northshore sent out unsolicited samples to previous customers, and I understand they got complaints from ABDLs.

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I'd bet they created a more general angst than that, we just happened to hear about the ABDL portion more. I remember that, it's been awhile and has (fortunately) not been repeated. Though you go to their website and they offer a wide variety of samples there which is commendable. I don't think anyone does samples better than northshore.

I can't imagine an adult diaper company not knowing about ABDL. Actually embracing ABDL is another matter. It's very easy to see where a diaper company might think that embracing the smaller ABDL community would alienate a larger number of incontinent persons who aren't interested in having their condition likened to a baby's, nor in seeing dignified euphemisms like "briefs" replaced with harshly babyish terms like "diapers." Maintaining separate websites for both groups seems pretty sensible.

I doubt anyone involved in the Adult Diaper business could possibly remain ignorant of the ABDL scene for all that long. When my family first got our computer one of the first AOL searches I did was for other incontinent people, and that was in like 1999, and even then ABDL sites were in the top results. Any web based company will be making similar searches, and if they're wanting to tap the market then they'll probably pull moves like Northshore is doing.

While it will be a pretty much one off case, or at least very rare not too long back I was reading about a medical company in America with a walk in store that have started selling ABDL diapers in store because one of the workers told them about ABDL being one her self and the potential profit in it.

If I can find where I was reading this again I'll come back and post it up.

RebeccaHime said:

While it will be a pretty much one off case, or at least very rare not too long back I was reading about a medical company in America with a walk in store that have started selling ABDL diapers in store because one of the workers told them about ABDL being one her self and the potential profit in it.

If I can find where I was reading this again I'll come back and post it up.

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It's a bit surprising more of them don't do it. The margin should be pretty good. A lot of ABDLs are willing to pay a premium for something they like.

bambinod said:

It's a bit surprising more of them don't do it. The margin should be pretty good. A lot of ABDLs are willing to pay a premium for something they like.

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Image is a very important aspect of any company and I suspect that the negative image of ABDL is more than the extra profits for selling ABDL diapers in the minds of these companies.

When I started the company in 2002, I was not aware of ABDL market. However, very quickly we started receiving calls from people looking for diapers that were colored or printed and many were very open about explaining why they were interested in these products. While there are a handful of people that we've had to block for inappropriate behavior on phone or chat over the years, the vast majority of people in the ABDL market seem to be more than happy to find a company that is willing to listen to their needs...which do vary quite a bit from person to person even within ABDL market.

The ABDL market was one reason we started carrying the purple Molicare Super Plus Briefs years ago and was responsible for us stocking a variety of other products such as Attends w/ Waistbands, Dry 24/7, Abena, EuroBrief, Wellness, and now BetterDry/Crinklz. As we've grown and have more and more ability to impact what products are made at the factories, we've started listening to the ABDL market even more to make sure that we can be a voice to industry so that products suited for ABDL are not removed from production completely as new diaper lines replace old ones and factories have to make decisions about how to make products more efficiently, which usually means more expensive, lower volume niche items are cut. We're starting to make good progress in this regard and are working with a few manufacturers on some very interesting new products for ABDL market.

It's a long process of design and development when you ask for something new but I'm hopeful we'll end up with some different options than what are available today, even if they are not perfect at the outset. Your feedback is critical to this process and has been very helpful in gaining support from the management of our manufacturing partners to make the investments needed to bring these new products to market. While some people do not like that we stock a few products that ABDL market supports, you'd be surprised about how many customers who are not ABDL aware buy them as well. We've received many emails from people that were very tired of the same old white diapers and thrilled to see something different available so they could mix it up a little. Our mission statement is "To improve the quality of life of those managing with incontinence". In this case, the ABDL market has helped us improve the quality of life for many people, which makes this job rewarding for all our team here at NorthShore.

NorthShoreAdam said:

We're starting to make good progress in this regard and are working with a few manufacturers on some very interesting new products for ABDL market.

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Where is the like button?!

Another reason why (this whole post, actually) I love NorthShore [emoji854]

As has been more or less mentioned throughout this thread; sadly its basically the more 'forward'(?) part of the community.

I know Healthwick here in Canada put up a blog post stating that they know about ABDL and have no issues catering to it on their site as the higher quality and absorption has actually been sought after by their non-ABDL clientele, but more or less nicely made the point of stating they they wouldn't accept their customer service people being asked awkward and just plain wrong questions.

MailCat581 said:

If more companies understood that ABDL is not totally a sexual thing; then maybe more companies would be open to carrying ABDL products like baby themed adult diapers and other paraphernalia.

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I know for me wearing helps my mental health and has actually prevented me from being hospitalised when my mental health has been in decline. My psychiatrist knows and she has no problem with it. She said it's harmless and my need steams from my anxious and avoidant attachment issues from when I was a child. So you don't have to be incontinent to wear nappies. For me its emotional and it's accepted by my care team.