Why a lot of European branded nappies in America but hardly/if any American branded in Europe?

bobbilly

bobbilly

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No Northshore nappies in Europe.

Betterdry - Made in the EU
Molicare - Made in the EU
Tena Slip (European) - Made in the EU (more Superior then USA brand)
Attends - Made in the EU (more Superior then USA brand)
 
Why would Europeans pay extra to ship in inferior products when they already have great diapers, many exceeding performance of every brand manufactured in the US?

Off top of head and feel free to correct if wrong:
  • Dry 24/7 are now manufactured in US, but we're originally made in Israel. Now they're a shell of the original (in terms of performance), although not horrible by any stretch (yet!)
  • Bambinos / TotalDry used to be made in US, not sure now...
 
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My guess would be that while most of the diapers made in Europe are really absorbent and really well made whereas most of the diapers made in the USA are a complete waste of the resources from which they were made. I mean does anyone really want to spend money on junk diapers like depend, coviden, prevail, tena(u.s only) etcetera. These substandard diapers only continue to exist because most people don't know there is anything better out there. That coupled with the fact that a shocking number of people here in America dont seem to care if a diaper is actually effective as long as it looks like underwear and is discreet. Sorry for the rant I'm not in the greatest mood today😞
 
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I don't like the Northshore anyway.
What else diapers from the US are not available?

Tho only ones i would want to try out are Tykables, but i think they are
from Canada.
 
for the most part USA made diapers suck back in the day when attends was made by P&G they was good for the time frame anyway they was the ones that was used on me during my school age years now days they are junk would not even make a good window cleaner towel i am big on buying USA made stuff but when i comes to diapers i have to say eu is where the good ones come from
 
My understanding is that Tykables and ABUniverse are both American companies each with zero (disposable diaper) manufacturing capacity that commission, manufacture and ship disposable diapers made in China. Northshorecare is similar, no manufacturing capacity but I believe their in-house disposables are all manufactured in Europe instead of China.

Anyone know about Rears as a company, where there based? Another repackaged European diaper I believe.

The machinery and expertise needed to produce adult diapers is a very high up front cost, both in $ and time, and in the US next to impossible to compete with imports that cost much less for a product where pennies can make or break sales and profitability. I would imagine getting financing to help pay for such machinery would require showing how the demand is already there for product you plan on producing to keep the machine running 24/7/365 (look at shortage of paper towels and toilet paper, no one is going to buy new machines to handle the increased demand because they expect demand to fall again in a year, long before the new machines could be assembled and put into use), and that your product will be profitable and competitive with other products already available. Abdl diapers are not a big enough market to invest in local manufacturing, and the US mentality about cheaper price =better means you have a high hill to climb to get market adoption of a pricier product.

It makes me sad, but it is what it is...
 
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My thought is not enough market share in EU compared to NA. I am certain there are way more people living in NA than in EU. On top of that you got VAT and import/export fees
 
Last edited:
kraken98 said:
My thought is not enough market share in EU compared to NA. I am certain there are way more people living in NA than in EU. On top of that you got VAT and import/export fees
Click to expand...
Population of Europe is 739 million, North America is 579 million. Sourced from Alexa and Google...
 
bobbilly said:
No Northshore nappies in Europe.

Betterdry - Made in the EU
Molicare - Made in the EU
Tena Slip (European) - Made in the EU (more Superior then USA brand)
Attends - Made in the EU (more Superior then USA brand)
Click to expand...

Honestly it has to do with volume more than anything. If you can produce product in a market closer to the consumer at volumes that allow you to get great manufacturing costs the price of shipping that product from around the wolrd actually ends up costing more. It is cheaper for Attends, as an example, to make product in the USA for the USA market than it would be to ship it from Europe and vice versa. That is really the only answer. But they have enough volume to warrant being able to have different factories or 3rd party manufacturing in each market to keep a constant turnover. Abena, as an example, actually makes some products in the USA for the USA market but then produces some and imports it in as well from Europe.

For Tykables and other ABDL brands who produce in China the cost of shipping to the USA and to Europe isn't that different but doing so allows us to move more volume overall from the factory. Also China is one of the few places that will run their machines slow enough to produce the higher weighted products that our market wants. Most manufacturings companies in Europe and North America do not want to slow their machines down enough to make the products we want. They can produce 50% more of a thinner product, or more, and make more revenue and better margins on thinner products. It is a numbers game for everyone involved.

GermanDL said:
Tho only ones i would want to try out are Tykables, but i think they are
from Canada.
Click to expand...

We are in Chicago IL, USA but you can buy our products in Europe from several retailers including NappiesRus.co.uk and saveexpress.de in Germany. You can see a full list at tykables.com/stores
 
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Most “American” and Canadian nappies are actually made in China.

American Depends (6 tab) are Made in Mexico.

Tranquility ATN’s are genuine “Made in the USA” and I believe Dry24/7 are too.

The Absorbency+ brief was too, but they’re now discontinued, sadly.
 
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Historically, diapers had to be better in Europe. In the US diapers had to be bad ( performance wise ) but cheap because people have to pay them. Bad products need to be changed often, so bigger turnovers. In Europe health insurance usually paid the diapers, which had the interesting effect that if the product was bad, they would not be refunded and not sold. This made them more expensive but you would get a product that could last 9 or 10 hours.
 
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Roland007 said:
Historically, diapers had to be better in Europe. In the US diapers had to be bad ( performance wise ) but cheap because people have to pay them. Bad products need to be changed often, so bigger turnovers. In Europe health insurance usually paid the diapers, which had the interesting effect that if the product was bad, they would not be refunded and not sold. This made them more expensive but you would get a product that could last 9 or 10 hours.
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Is love to know how much truth there is to this... My uneducated layman's guess: In America insurance also pays for diapers and hospitals /care facilities get paid by the change of the product, so cheaper less effective products = more changes = more billing and reimbursement from insurance. Cheaper product means higher profit for diaper company from hospital / care facility that wants to change diapers more often. Also, in US, "germs" are bad, and pee is germs so wet diaper must be immediately changed or death will surely immediately result... Conveniently, this fear of germs also helps diaper companies sell more product that's cheaper and less practical for quality of life but with higher profit - with warnings part of the manufactures application instructions indicating product must be changed immediately when used leaving unsaid the dire consequences of not replacing with brand new dry product fast enough.

Some of that may have been tongue in cheek / sarcastic...
 
lacutah said:
Why would Europeans pay extra to ship in inferior products when they already have great diapers, many exceeding performance of every brand manufactured in the US?

Off top of head and feel free to correct if wrong:
  • Dry 24/7 are now manufactured in US, but we're originally made in Israel. Now they're a shell of the original (in terms of performance), although not horrible by any stretch (yet!)
  • Bambinos / TotalDry used to be made in US, not sure now...
Click to expand...
Most of the diapers I have found for sale in Canada are made in China, Rearz, Tena, Tranquility and most are OK but I have never tried EU diapers yet. Not sure about Depends but I only tried them once and they were garbage.
 
todaler said:
Honestly it has to do with volume more than anything. If you can produce product in a market closer to the consumer at volumes that allow you to get great manufacturing costs the price of shipping that product from around the wolrd actually ends up costing more. It is cheaper for Attends, as an example, to make product in the USA for the USA market than it would be to ship it from Europe and vice versa. That is really the only answer. But they have enough volume to warrant being able to have different factories or 3rd party manufacturing in each market to keep a constant turnover. Abena, as an example, actually makes some products in the USA for the USA market but then produces some and imports it in as well from Europe.

For Tykables and other ABDL brands who produce in China the cost of shipping to the USA and to Europe isn't that different but doing so allows us to move more volume overall from the factory. Also China is one of the few places that will run their machines slow enough to produce the higher weighted products that our market wants. Most manufacturings companies in Europe and North America do not want to slow their machines down enough to make the products we want. They can produce 50% more of a thinner product, or more, and make more revenue and better margins on thinner products. It is a numbers game for everyone involved.



We are in Chicago IL, USA but you can buy our products in Europe from several retailers including NappiesRus.co.uk and saveexpress.de in Germany. You can see a full list at tykables.com/stores
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Excellent, informed answer.

In my experience, the European diapers are much higher quality and wick better, and completely different in construction compared to the Chinese made diapers.
 
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Angelapinks said:
Most of the diapers I have found for sale in Canada are made in China, Rearz, Tena, Tranquility and most are OK but I have never tried EU diapers yet. Not sure about Depends but I only tried them once and they were garbage.
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No, I am wrong, Tena and Tranquility are USA made. I do like the Rearz Inspire even though they are made in China as they are very thirsty diapers and can get me through the night and I currently use the Tranquility ATN with a booster to prevent overnight leaks. I keep a bed pad on and wear plastic or rubber pants for insurance against wetting the bed but once I am asleep I am dead to the world and only wake when I feel the irritation of wetness on my skin. I have had this problem for a few years now but the past year it is getting worse. My Urologist said with all the meds I take now one more pill will not improve things so I need to get used to wearing protection.
 
Tena, somewhere in the 90‘ties or begin of 2000‘s bought a US diaper brand ( promises?) and simply rebranded that product, changed nothing and continued sales.

in these days IRC was big so I had European friends that would send me Tena Maxi Slip. US Tena was no match for European Tena. Depends in Europe were made like in the US, so they never got popular. The hospital green colour also did not contribute.
 
Yooo said:
Excellent, informed answer.

In my experience, the European diapers are much higher quality and wick better, and completely different in construction compared to the Chinese made diapers.
Click to expand...
Mmmm, a big container full of diapers costs around $1000 to have it shipped. There are about 10000 diapers in a container so the shipping on the boat will add $0,1.

if you really want to know how much it all costs, do the math yourself. All information required is open source. All diaper factories in China ( also the ones that make rears, etc, etc ) sell through Alibaba. they will sell numbers that are economically viable ( turn over times for machines etc ) but you will end up with 100.000 diapers for a factory price of $0,25. They can also give you the costs for shipment etc. Shipment in China is free. Customs, transport from the harbour to your warehouse are your local costs. I did this once, for a customer and ended with with a price per medium diaper of $0,75. This was 8 years ago. Now you get a feeling about profit margins. While you’re at it: baby diapers are way smaller and much cheaper, so calculate their profit margins :)

Diaper machines are complex. When the old machines had to be replaced, they were sold to China. A diaper machine is a complex modular design, where you can replace module, tape landing zone, with something else, but in the end, you won’t be able to upgrade because the dimensions won’t fit or the way the diaper enters the module is wrong. That’s why innovations in diapers usually come from the US or Europe. They have newer machines and spend R&D money. China, mostly for ABDL is still copycat of the old diapers.
 
You can keep your shite diapers, we're good. Thanks 😂
 
Lol we have NorthShore, we don't need your shite diapers either :D
 
I think one thing that most people forget about the American market, is that the majority of manufacturers here gear themselves towards the healthcare industry. The view is that the majority of people with severe incontinence are in some sort of facility. Many many years ago the manufacturers didn't have the technology to make better products, and laws were passed requiring patients diapers to be changed every 2 hours. Those laws are still in place, and the manufacturers here in the U.S just continue to roll with the products that will last about 2 hours. I think some of them are starting to get the idea that there are many of us out here who have total incontinence and are not in a facility, so they are slowly making better products. In the E.U., when technology allowed the creation of better disposable diapers, they decided that not bothering patients with a diaper change every 2 hours was better. This lead to a higher standard for the diapers used there. It really all comes down to the completely different views on patient care, and medicine in general between the two societies.
 
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