ABDL supplies and the elephant in the room

[LittleAndAlone]

Haven't seen this elephant in the room pointed out yet.

So with current world events, I know it's the least important thing that should matter to anyone. But reality is we all know how inescapable and unbearable this ABDL stuff is and how impossible and cruel life becomes if we are deprived or denied our fix. As we all know this is a need and not a want, we didn't choose it.

That said, everything ABDL is currently made in China. Bambino, Tykable, ABU... diapers, clothing, stuffies, everything.

What happens if that trade is suddenly cut off? Any of these companies have contingency plans in place to quickly move or diversify production or has it not even been considered yet?

Assuming best case scenario and we don't have bigger problems to worry about, first world problems aside, life is going to go on for majority of people just dealing with their day to day personal problems. The thought of not being able to get ABDL related supplies for possibly years or these companies being caught with their pants down and shutting doors is terrifying.

Past and current lingering COV-19 disruptions are still weighing heavy on this community and only barely begining to recover. Hopefully it provided a wakeup call and practice run for how quickly these things can sour and how important diversification and second sourcing is. Everything from machinery to consumables to warehousing to shipping.

TLDR/Topic: ABDL supply chain single point of failure, diversity, and contingency plans

 

[Nowididit]

Yeah I don't see this happening.

 

[PoofsNFloofs]

Haven't seen this elephant in the room pointed out yet.

So with current world events, I know it's the least important thing that should matter to anyone. But reality is we all know how inescapable and unbearable this ABDL stuff is and how impossible and cruel life becomes if we are deprived or denied our fix. As we all know this is a need and not a want, we didn't choose it.

That said, everything ABDL is currently made in China. Bambino, Tykable, ABU... diapers, clothing, stuffies, everything.

What happens if that trade is suddenly cut off? Any of these companies have contingency plans in place to quickly move or diversify production or has it not even been considered yet?

Assuming best case scenario and we don't have bigger problems to worry about, life is going to go on for majority of people, and the thought of not being able to get supplies for possibly years or these companies being caught with their pants down and shutting doors is terrifying.

TLDR: ABDL supply chain single point of failure, and contingency plans

ABU's been slowly shifting production to Japan, as far as I know.

 

[SoCalSwitch]

There are exceptions for products that are not produced in the US when it comes to import restrictions. It’s like saying there will be no more antibiotics because they are all made in China.

Are there alternatives to the medically necessary absorbent products in the US , yes. I believe McKesson and a few others have US supply/manufacturing capabilities.

To know where our wonderful puffy pants come from takes some simple Google-ing. Look up the supplier WEIFANG MIMOSA PERSONALCARE TECHNOLOGIES. They produce the diapers for Rearz, Bambino, ABU, Tykables and Diapers4Life (D4L which is the Rearz Amazon Retailer).

Their import/export shipment data is out there, and if you pay attention, there’s a couple other suppliers you can find. Also, for the sleuthy peeps, you can find lots of ABDL supplier information on Alibaba.

Will our diaper well run dry, doubtful. Will we continue to fill them, absolutely. 😁

And for reference to the charts below, looks like the ‘Rona kept a lot of people inside and in a diaper.

 

[buridan]

Abena's factories are in Europe. It's not an ABDL company, but it is of interest to many ABDLs.

 

[LittleAndAlone]

Less concerned about imports we control vs exports where someone else has a say.

I've spent most of my life in fields that require planning for redundancy, high availability, and covering worst case scenarios. And most importantly depriving any potential adversary or external factors from having any power or control to influence any of those scenarios.

Even my personal life is governed by principles of planning for all contingencies and depriving others of any opportunity to gain power over me.

Murphy and I are NOT friends. 🤣

 

[Edgewater]

Bad News, Japan is to expensive with the combination of land, labor, utilities and taxes.
Vietnam is more likely, but infrastructure is weak.

So, Pants Down is Kind of a Reality!

Will they do it? That is the Big Question and one really needs to be looking at this from a worst case standpoint as the 'linchpin' is North Korea striking out. China needs a default to save face and have deniability, hence they will give North Korea approval to start this.

Good News is both Japan and South Korea have been upgrading they defenses to be able to strike incoming missiles. Sounds good, but it will be ugly as container ships in Port will either make a run for it or will not be allowed to sail. There are all kinds of guesses as to how long before shortages start setting in. Look for the first signs with those items that are shipped by air as they will shutdown quickly, think medical and electronics.

So, what does all that mean: Time to get into and be comfortable with cloth diapers and have a pile of plastic pants. The other items, I have no idea what your needs are. Understand that manufacturing will quickly change to support the crisis!

I am not going to dip into the Geo Political discussion as that clarity, the reader must have the ability to believe what the landscape really is. But, I will say that the landscape is scary..

 

[LittleAndAlone]

Bad News, Japan is to expensive with the combination of land, labor, utilities and taxes.
Vietnam is more likely, but infrastructure is weak.

So, Pants Down is Kind of a Reality!

Will they do it? That is the Big Question and one really needs to be looking at this from a worst case standpoint as the 'linchpin' is North Korea striking out. China needs a default to save face and have deniability, hence they will give North Korea approval to start this.

Good News is both Japan and South Korea have been upgrading they defenses to be able to strike incoming missiles. Sounds good, but it will be ugly as container ships in Port will either make a run for it or will not be allowed to sail. There are all kinds of guesses as to how long before shortages start setting in. Look for the first signs with those items that are shipped by air as they will shutdown quickly, think medical and electronics.

So, what does all that mean: Time to get into and be comfortable with cloth diapers and have a pile of plastic pants. The other items, I have no idea what your needs are. Understand that manufacturing will quickly change to support the crisis!

I am not going to dip into the Geo Political discussion as that clarity, the reader must have the ability to believe what the landscape really is. But, I will say that the landscape is scary..

Yeah I don't want this to get into world politics. The details of how and why is not important. Just that it can happen, period.

This topic is strictly to discuss an obvious supply chain single point of failure that affects our niche community and how prepared we are to quickly adapt to possible permanent disruptions.

ABDL community was hurting not too long ago with OUT OF STOCK issues across the board and in some areas still is. Been waiting for what feels like a year for Puppers Snappies onesie to come back in stock. Consider COV19 a trial run and wake up call to take proactive action.

It seems silly, but end of the world issues aside, most people are going to get back to business as usual and be focused on their own local and personal first world problems. For us, it's OMG nobody has diapers in stock! 😱

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Way too prone a topic for temptation to slip into politics. Two words: APEC, 1993. That's all I will say, the rest is up to y'all.

 

[Cottontail]

I feel fortunate in these times that my little tail is happiest in cotton, although I do use disposables periodically. Even most cloth diapers come from overseas anymore, and if they don’t, the fabrics used to make them usually do. There’s (almost) no escape.

As an electronics guy I’ve been wrestling with the chip shortage for the last couple of years, forced in some cases to disassemble other companies’ products to get the parts we need to build our own. It’s been…awful. My industry is being severely punished for putting all of its eggs in one basket, so to speak. Many others are overdue for similar treatment.

(Note to self: Order by the case next time.)

 

[loadedpamperman]

Betterdry are made in either Denmark or Germany...or in that area of the world at least so I'm good...and Abena is Denmark, Tena is somewhere in Europe (the active fit line at least)... no clue where Northshore's are made but I'd suspect in N America for some reason.

 

[LittleAndAlone]

As an electronics guy I’ve been wrestling with the chip shortage

OMG don't get me started. Remember at the start when you couldn't even get 99.99 industrial IPA for cleaning and rinsing when everybody was panic buying up anything IPA to use as antiseptic. 🥴

 

[Cottontail]

OMG don't get me started. Remember when you couldn't even get 99.99 industrial IPA for cleaning and rinsing when everybody was buying up anything IPA to use as an antiseptic. 🥴

Yes. I bought two gallons right before COVID and haven’t had to buy more yet, so I thankfully (and totally accidentally) avoided that problem.

 

[Poohbearboy]

China's supply going to be harder in the future.