According to Gray, the cloth diapers she makes are more comfortable for babies than disposable brands, and are better at preventing leaks and messes.A skill learned to improve her baby’s quality of life has turned into a growing business opportunity for a Soddy-Daisy mother.
Kendall Gray and her husband are both very tall, leaving them struggling to find diapers that would fit their now 3-year-old daughter. As the expense racked up, Gray went looking for another option, and settled on hand-making her own cloth diapers.
“It was getting incredibly expensive to keep her in disposable diapers,” Gray said. “Didn’t take long to research how to make my own.”
The savings were considerable, but her daughter is out of diapers now. Gray didn’t want to let her talent go to waste, so she started making a few for her friends. Word spread, and Gray soon realized she needed to complete some paperwork.
“I wanted to do everything correctly, so I got compliant with all the rules for a small business,” she said. “It’s all very modest, though. I’m just a seamstress.”
Her business is named Brave as a Bear Cloth, and although Gray doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar location, she said she’s been surprised by the amount of sales she’s making.
Gray used to work in a child care facility, and she said the choice for parents to switch to cloth diapers isn’t always an economical one. Children can be sensitive to the chemicals in disposable diapers, and the environmental impact of cloth diapers is much lower.
“Initially I disregarded it [cloth diapers],” Gray said with a laugh. “I thought it was just hippy stuff.”
The more she learned, however, the more she was convinced to make the switch herself.
While she admits she can’t compete with large brands for price, she’s content making quality products from the best materials she can purchase, she said. Gray uses hemp, bamboo and organic cotton for the inserts and polyurethane laminate for the outer layer. She creates stay-dry toppers out of microfleece printed with whimsical designs.
The American manufacturer for the polyurethane laminate she uses, Eco-PUL, is made with a “green” adhesive that is solvent-free, environmentally friendly, and releases no volatile organics.
If her business grows more, hiring more seamstresses is a possibility to handle the volume. Right now, though, she’s happy to see where it goes.
“If I can specialize in making one thing really well, I’d say I’m doing something right,” said Gray.
For more information, check out her website at braveasabear.com.
Email Shane Foley at sfoley@timesfreepress.com.