E: My name is Elizabeth Maurency, I live in Sydney and I have a son and a daughter, both in nappies. I first started to use cloth nappies while we lived in the UK, where there are better products and lots of knowledgeable people. (See Personal Experiences for how I got started on cloth.)
When we came home to Australia I was shocked at the bad reputation that cloth had, and very disappointed that the best products were totally unavailable here. But as you can tell from the rest of this site, I am passionate about cloth - I just get so frustrated that someone out there has conned us into paying more for an inferior product!
In the end, I got so frustrated with the non-availability of good cloth products, that I decided I would import them myself. So I now have a business selling my favourite nappies and covers, Tots Bots, plus a few other nappy products. (If anyone's interested in buying, have a look at www.cleverpants.com.au.)
D: My name is Deborah Fisher, I am a Brit living in Toowoomba (Qld) and I have a daughter who has been in cloth for most of her life. I was convinced by others (and have no idea why) that I wouldn't be able to cope with cloth and a newborn so I set my sights on starting at three months. In that time I became more aware than ever of the environmental impact of disposable nappies. Coupled with the constant shortfalls of the UK's premium brand disposable nappies (at least one of which is available in Australia) I didn't last the three months with disposables! Within weeks of switching to cloth I was making my own too. On moving to Australia the need to make my own became even more marked. The variety and quality of cloth products readily available here is appalling. I suddenly got very motivated…
I have very recently started my business, making and selling cloth nappies and related products. All of my products are original designs that I have developed in my two years of cloth nappying, having considered the pros and cons of the many brands that we have used ourselves.
On reading this site we hope that you will see that we have tried to give advice which is as honest and neutral as possible. We frequently give advice which is contrary to our commercial interests by recommending other nappysellers and other brands. Which is only right, because there is more than one good cloth nappy option out there. Elizabeth is extremely disappointed that we have been brainwashed into using inferior (disposable) products while Deborah thinks than any extra person choosing cloth over disposables will help to save her daughter's planet.
We hope that this site will become the first port of call for anyone in Australia who wants to learn about cloth nappies. We have a desperate need for good quality information for the Australian market, and hopefully this will supply that need. We would be very grateful for any feedback you have on the site, and will be happy to provide links to other relevant sites if you make us aware of them.
We have tried to strike a balance between providing enough detail to allow people to find the right cloth nappy, and providing so much information that it's impossible to digest and understand. There are other sites which provide a very high level of detail, and we refer to them when necessary.
We hope that you find this site informative and useful.
Happy nappying!
Deborah and Elizabeth.