Most (all?) of the ABDL diaper makers go for an ABDL pattern on their first few runs. You've got to stand out against your competition, and all-white diapers don't really stand out on their own. Only after they've established a foothold do they go on to produce a plain version to try to capture more of their market, the ones that are either strictly DL and don't care for AB, or are IC and don't want AB -or- DL and just want the better performance. Rearz is the only retailer I can think of that has always made their all-white diapers a primary product alongside their printed designs. The other big names (ABU, Bambino, Tykables) all took years to start selling plain white versions of their printed diapers. But that's only because the medical diapers their prints are based on were all-white to begin with.
But if you're referring to actual patterned diapers, just without an ABDL theme, the selection is a lot more limited. They know that a good chunk of their regular customers are AB, and so an ABDL pattern will be a hit with a lot of them. Anything else is going to be attractive to a much smaller subset of their customers. "AB" is usually either a nursery theme, and/or a pastel soft character theme, which can be much more generally accepted as AB, while at the same time hitting that specific niche.
- QTTY Rawr is strictly a dinosaur theme, and it's not very popular because it's too specific. Compare that to Bambino Magnifico, which is ABDL dinosaurs, which has a much broader appeal. I suspect we'll be seeing Rawr on Amazon for the next few years, trying to sell off the rest of their only run.
- DC Amor's original pink diapers were strictly anime themed, (and like Rawr, not even DL themed!) and not well-received, until they switched to an ABDL kitten theme, and now they sell very well.
- FabSense City has never sold well, and will likely have the same fate as Rawr. Kiddo (owls? where did that come from?) did poorly until ABU bought them and placed them among the rest of their product line, where their single tapes and good performance picked up the slack that their specific artwork could not. I wonder how well their sales compare with BareBum, which was similarly acquired around the same time?
At this point though I wonder if the market might just be getting more relaxed about what they see on their diapers, creating more opportunities for less popular designs? Neva's Sea pattern is a good example of a generic non-ABDL design that seems to be off to a good start. And like Kiddo, if you can get yourself into a strong existing storefront, that certainly helps. (I think barnyard will do well as a result, relying on their velcro and high performance edge similar to what helps kiddo) Having good performance seems to be necessary for them though, to keep up the interest after the initial novelty wears off. (and that's why I see FabSense and QTTY failing)
I personally like what I refer to as "lightweight" patterns. Usually this means an all-white shell, with a mostly transparent print on the front panel. Bambino's Teddy and Bellissimo, along with Carousel, are my go-to examples. (Classico would fit in here too but it's a bit too heavily AB for my taste) Some printed shells can still have a somewhat lightweight look to them though as long as they keep the white background ( (like Crinklz, Safari, Little Paws) but they're getting pretty busy at that point, but their high quality helps to keep them on my list.
