Are plastic-backed adult diapers here to stay in the future?

[bambinod]

Saying that plasticbacked diapers perform better in both leak-protection and absorbancy is a blatant lie or just lack of knowledge. Sorry in advance.

Quite a few of us have encountered problems with "pinhole leaks" - although they do show up in plastic-shelled diapers, they're a much more common problem in cloth-backed. Plastic pingholes when sap grains are too large, near the shell, and encounter friction, which wears a hole in the shel that's covering the sap grain. Clothlike will pinhole leak if the spun material isn't laid down evenly enough and wet padding is pressed on, forcing a drop through.

As far as leakage goes, i would argue that the Tena Slip Ultima i use at the moment, will crush most premium plasticbacked diapers. Its ALOT better at transferring the 'fluids' from front to back, than almost any other diaper ive tried (alot). And the absorbancy is great too. Probably similar to the Betterdry if you had to compare.

Padding performance really has no required connection to shell type. Manufacturers just have one pool of types of padding to select from when manufacturing a diaper, regardless of shell type, so there should be no consistent absorption/wicking/capacity performance difference between different shell types.

 

[CptMartins]

Quite a few of us have encountered problems with "pinhole leaks" - although they do show up in plastic-shelled diapers, they're a much more common problem in cloth-backed. Plastic pingholes when sap grains are too large, near the shell, and encounter friction, which wears a hole in the shel that's covering the sap grain. Clothlike will pinhole leak if the spun material isn't laid down evenly enough and wet padding is pressed on, forcing a drop through.



Padding performance really has no required connection to shell type. Manufacturers just have one pool of types of padding to select from when manufacturing a diaper, regardless of shell type, so there should be no consistent absorption/wicking/capacity performance difference between different shell types.

I am absolutely aware that many clothbacked diapers suffer from the 'pinhole leaks'. Just not something that i experience with the diapers i use. If they are REALLY wet, some of them might get a tiny bit damp on the outside, but thats waaaaay beyond the point that one should change the diaper ;-)

About performance of the padding. My example was specifically the Tena diapers. Of course plasticbacked diapers can have the same padding as clothbacked.

I will argue however, that some brands will develop and engineer their own padding 'technologies', hence they will be the only ones using it. That would mainly be the larger manufacturers like Tena or Abena.

Thats the more practical bit. In the end i guess i just like clothlike diapers more, because they resemble the diapers i wore as a child the most.

//Cpt

 

[ChocChip]

The main issue with cloth backed nappies is they stretch and come loose very quickly, so it can be necessary to wear underwear (including stretch/net pants or plastic pants), tights, or tight fitting outer garments over them. There just isn't the security of fit.

 

[Tundra1975]

The main issue with cloth backed nappies is they stretch and come loose very quickly, so it can be necessary to wear underwear (including stretch/net pants or plastic pants), tights, or tight fitting outer garments over them. There just isn't the security of fit.

You have never tried Seni diapers. They don't stretch when I wear them and they are my primary daytime diaper. I wear 24/7 for bladder and bowel incontinence.

 

[nightfox320]

I think, as we see with many industries, there will come a time when cloth or some other material will replace the plastic we all love. I mean look at the firearm industry. In the early 2000's I remember both my father and I laughing at polymer guns. Glocknade was a common term in my house. Now in 2019 I walk around with a plastic wonder on my hip every day. Designs come and go, what happened with guns will likely happen with diapers. Something better than plastic will arrive and change the industry as we know it. Simple as that. The real question is when will it happen. I posit we will see such a change about as soon as we will see a decent ABDL pullup.

 

[bambinod]

I think, as we see with many industries, there will come a time when cloth or some other material will replace the plastic we all love.

I doubt it. We're a niche market here. Disposable baby diapers may go mostly or completely to clothlike, but the demand for plastic shell in ABDL diapers isn't going to go away and will continue to drive the manufacturers to produce products that sell better to their intended audience. They don't care what's good or bad for the environment, customer demand is their only real motivating force.

 

[nightfox320]

I don't know. As you said yourself our market is dependent upon what consumers want. If the broader market moves permanently to new materials, and many of the future ABDL's grow up with those materials I bet will see a flow of said materials into the ABDL market.

 

[bambinod]

I don't know. As you said yourself our market is dependent upon what consumers want.

There are areas that consumers will be fickle, but other areas they will continue to be very predictable.

Consumers in small groups and at times can be altruistic, but on the whole, on the average, and over time, they will continue to be selfish and self-interested. Consumers overall will always end up placing the highest value on convenient and cheap for any disposable product. If you can make that environmentally responsible without raising the cost (even a little!) and all other things are equal they will probably favor it. But make that "not my problem" cost 2% more and they'll switch on you.

The only reason clothlike is so popular right now is it's slightly cheaper to manufacture. The cost of PVC is going to continue to rise vs clothlike simply because it requires petroleum to manufacture. That little bit of added cost is what's driving it, not the environmental impact. Whether or not it's actually helping anything is just being used as a marketing tool. It only becomes influential when there is no difference in cost over the competing product thats not pushing that point as well.

 

[rocketman]

I don’t see plastic-backed baby diapers ever coming back at least in my lifetime. The world has lived exclusively with cloth-backed baby diapers for almost 20 years with no problem.

But for ABDL, they will exist. The older you get in the community, the less likely it is that cloth style existed for them as children. So they will likely always prefer plastic backed.

 

[Mickey]

I liked me Cushies Cloth backed diapers. Wish they still had them. I wear plastic pants over my diapers to contain odors.
I'd also love an abdl pull up. I'd wear more often if I had those. Diapering up takes time and I would constantly have to un tape and re tape it sometimes. So I only get to wear on few occasions.

 

[winterheart01]

Before Euron (plastic backed) switched to ID slip (cotton feel) I had no damp wet spots in my clothes, no smell problems and the sagging / fit was better too.
Now I use consistently less ID SLip than I used Euron in the past.
I experienced the same with Tena Slip Ultima, Abena M4/L4 (cotton-feel) and Molicare cotton feel.
Even the abri-san I have now feel wet on the outside when I change them.

The only advantage cotton feel has for me is comfort when walking but i would gladly go back to plastic alternatives, problem is indeed the price.

 

[BrattyPrincessSophie]

I think, as we see with many industries, there will come a time when cloth or some other material will replace the plastic we all love. I mean look at the firearm industry. In the early 2000's I remember both my father and I laughing at polymer guns. Glocknade was a common term in my house. Now in 2019 I walk around with a plastic wonder on my hip every day. Designs come and go, what happened with guns will likely happen with diapers. Something better than plastic will arrive and change the industry as we know it. Simple as that. The real question is when will it happen. I posit we will see such a change about as soon as we will see a decent ABDL pullup.

It certainly looked that way in the late 2000s-mid 2010s. It seemed like EVERY major brand was completely phasing out plastic. TENA in the US phased it out in the mid-late 2000s. Some obscure institutional brands like Dignity switched over in the 2010s, and the late 2000s-early 2010s the vast majority of store brands completely switched over. Not to mention the scares of major premium medical brands like Abena and Molicare in which the US was spared from that fate in the early-mid 2010s, but Abena's S4 was completely switched over and none of their non-flagship lines like Delta Form were safe. Most of the brands in Europe have completely switched over as far as I know. Things reached a peak in 2015-2016 when TENA tried to phase out their plastic backed products in Europe, only to bring it back. In the US, when Depends tried it, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Reviews of the new cloth-like Depends were universally negative and the backlash was so loud KC had no choice but to bring back the old plastic version.

After the Depends fiasco, diaper manufacturers began to see what happens when you push too far with aggressively shoving a product down people's throats by replacing the old version completely while not offering any other option. Since then, some brands have brought back their plastic-backed products, and most are offering plastic and cloth-like options alongside each other instead of outright replacing one with the other. As of now, I think plastic-backed diapers, even major premium medical brands and cheap institutional brands are going to be safe for the foreseeable future. I don't see them going away completely for another decade or two if not longer.

 

[extremecomfy]

Most ABDL-style diapers and some incontinent diapers are still plastic-backed as of today. There’s some ABDLs who still prefer plastic-backed adult diapers and oppose any idea of a cloth-backed adult diaper (myself included). Cloth-backing on most adult diapers usually didn’t turn out well (for example, leakage issues), that’s probably the reason why there’s actually only a couple cloth-backed ABDL-style diapers throughout the history of diapers. The first two that I can think of ABDL-style diapers that were cloth-backed were both made by ABU, the first was Cushies CB, while the second was the Preschool CB, then the third CB diaper was Magnifico Slip-On by Bambino. Do you think there will ever be a market for cloth-backed ABDL diapers in the future? Do you think some of the ABDL diapers will remain plastic-backed forever?

Maybe in the future if there a new generation of ABDLs. The cloth backed will be what makes them feel little? What do you think?