@Monkeypuzzler
re the whole market research thing, this is essentially the fault of the marketing spin that was put on the first cloth backed (clb) baby disposables, based on what I've found on the web. The predominant users of adult nappies are either disabled kids who have came out of clb baby nappies, and elderly people who need more protection than their current pads or pants, in both these situations the move away from a non woven backing is seen as a downgrade by the caregiver, I've seen nappies very dear to this community reffered to as 'plastic covered wads of tissue'.
In most cases the end user of the product has no say in what they wear, it's decided for them like everything else, fortunately these aren't wearers that are going to push a product to its limits, but for those, like us, there is a growing hole in the market, especially here in britain.
Producers have set about the change to clb quite differently, some adopting breathable sides with a plastic backsheet, tena launching a clb halo nappy, molicare keeping there range topper plastic backed only till very recently, until eventually all will have clb and breathable sides.
Personally it makes far more sense to have a plastic backed halo product, like the attends special care/ slip plus, over and above most existing clb ranges rather than only offering low absorption value ranges with the option, if I could get a lille classic or gompels aio in a maxi absorbency it would be a default and worthy replacement for the old tena slip maxi.