Well, there's been a right old hoo-hah all over the blogs and forums since the announcement that the Tots Bots EasyFit nappies are to be stocked in Tesco.
On Tots Bots Facebook page, there's been a lot of positive reaction from cloth-loving mums... delighted to see modern cloth nappies in their local big supermarket, alongside chemical nappies, as a natural and normal choice for new parents.
From the photos many have spontaneously taken and posted online, most seem thrilled to see fluff taking its rightful place on-shelf in a major supermarket alongside disposables. There's even a sense of feeling proud that our decision to use cloth nappies has been vindicated as an acceptable choice for all parents, not just eco-warriors.
For many of us modern cloth mums, the stocking of a brand of cloth nappies in Tesco spells the beginning of the end of the endless having-to-explain-again-and-again to family, friends, people we meet at baby and toddler groups and child-carers... "No, they're not just covers for disposables", "Yes, you wash them, and use them again when they're dry", "No, they don't leak", "No, I'm not brave, and I don't like doing lots of washing either... I don't have to", "No, I don't put poo in my washing machine, I use liners" and so on...
No-one likes to feel like a freak, but the chemical nappy industry have done a great job over the last 25 years at characterising cloth nappy usage as backward and unhygienic.
Unfortunately, combined with most people's image of cloth nappies as rough terry squares, giant stabbing pins and PVC plastic pants, this hasn't been hard to achieve and maintain.
Given most modern real nappy manufacturers and retailers are still quite small, there hasn't been the budget to combat the combination of outdated impressions and deliberate misinformation amongst the general public.
Now, though, in my opinion, Tesco have potentially given not just Tots Bots, but the whole cloth nappy industry a huge boost. Simply by stocking the bright and colourful Easyfits next to the insipid paper nappy brands in their biggest 100 stores, Tesco could achieve for cloth nappies the kind of exposure amongst mainstream mums and dads that the industry has only previously been able to dream of.
Unfortunately, although perhaps understandably, the reaction of other online nappy retailers has been a lot more circumspect. There's been a lot of worrying about how Tesco stocking the EasyFit will affect their own sales, and pleas not to forget the smaller online retailers.
This has been exacerbated by Tesco deciding to launch the Easyfit at £14.99 rather than the usual RRP of £17.99, which means that we all will have to follow suit and cut our margins on this product.
However, although this is definitely annoying, I think that overall most small online retailer's fears about Tesco just aren't justified. However successfully the EasyFit performs in Tesco, they just aren't ever going to stock the range of nappies that even the smallest word-at-home mum cloth nappy retailer does. Nor will they be able to provide the tailored, thoughtful, personal customer service and trouble-shooting that most smaller online retailers generally provide as standard.
Yes, we might miss out on the odd sale of an EasyFit to an established customer who decides to pick one up with her weekly shop, rather than purchase separately online.
But there's another potential scenario, which I believe is more likely and much more positive:
A mum or dad who has fallen in to the habit of using disposables, despite feeling a bit guilty about it from time-to-time goes into Tesco, and sees colourful, funky EasyFit cloth nappies suddenly sitting next to their usual buy. They decide on a whim to pick up a single pack of EasyFits as well as their usual disposable brand, and give them a go at home. They like them (although, of course, some won't) and either go back to Tesco for more, or, get online to see what other choices they might have in the cloth nappy arena.
Either way, the online retailer either wins, or at least, doesn't lose out. If the newly converted parent decides to purchase all her cloth nappies from Tesco in future, then we don't lose out, because they are customers we would probably never have had anyway. If they get online to see what else is available, then hey, we all have the potential to win a new customer here!
Finally, even if our new cloth mum or dad only ever purchases EasyFits from Tesco, then at the very least, all the people they come into contact with, friends, family, child-carers etc, will start to see cloth as a normal and acceptable choice... which can only benefit the industry as a whole.
I think the worst thing that could happen to the industry is that Tesco declare the experiment a failure, remove it from their shelves, and relegate cloth nappies to further years as a niche product beloved only of an exclusive online club of those 'in the know'.
Whatever your misgivings about Tesco, they have huge clout (and must be doing something right, as so many of us shop there), so if you want to help make chemical nappies clogging up our landfill a thing of the past, then why not use the might of the Tesco machine to help?
As bizarre as it sounds coming from an online retailer who stocks the EasyFit, I urge all those who want to see more cloth nappies on babies bottoms in future to go out and buy an EasyFit from your nearest large Tesco this week. Every little helps, and all that... (do you see what I did there?)
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