Five Years of Cloth Diapers: My Favorite Brands
Erin Burt
We’ve done it. Naysayers step aside! We’re five years into cloth diapering. In those five years with three children we’ve tried pretty much everything. Brands, inserts, styles…I started with mostly pockets, had a year of mostly AIOs for daycare, and meandered through a joyous simple time of flats and covers.
I’ve hand-washed and line-dried along with utilizing a washer and dryer. I’m a pro, seen-and-done-it-all, seasoned cloth vet. Obviously, my favorites don’t have to be yours, and many brands are great. We have one or two of MANY diaper brands. The five(ish) brands below make up almost 90 percent of our diapers and inserts.
Our top picks include:
Thirsties: I love everything about this company. Their hemp prefolds and inserts make up 90 percent of our inserts. We have their duo covers, pocket diapers, and AIOs. They are all winners! Thirsties produce here in the US, are family-owned, and are highly involved in the cloth and environmental communities in a way that makes me appreciate them more. They currently help house and fulfill, at no cost, a large portion of the cloth-need program Giving Diapers, Giving Hope. Double gussets, unique-themed prints, cute trim, quality construction, stellar aplix, and manageable price point (especially for covers) are just a few of the many reasons Thirsties is possibly our most favorite brand.
Smart Bottoms: We were not an AIO family for many years. I came to them partly because of the cute prints but also the quality, US made, product. Smart Bottoms are trim, incorporate organic materials, thoughtful, detail-oriented construction that doesn’t scrimp, and bullet-proof perfection (once fully prepped). The price point is steeper but I buy during sales and am willing to pay for a brand with fantastic service, both to their customers and the cloth/baby community at large.
Rumparooz: Rumparooz has it all—the cute prints, the trim yet also large pocket compartment to serve both day and overnight, the double gussets, the quality aplix. The Rumparooz fit is somewhat unique, but once you know to pull the side up and then over the hip your babe is golden. Also a Kanga Care company, Eco Posh fitted diapers and trainers are made, in large part, from recycled water bottles and offer many of the great Rumparooz features, like double gussets and four-rise system.
GroVia: Yet again, company ethic really makes GroVia shine. They previously housed the Giving Diapers, Giving Hope inventory and continue to contribute to the cloth community in both customer service and giving heart. They are fully engaged in the cloth community, holding weekly chats (like most of the other brands listed above), and they are innovative in design. No one has a side-snapping AIO quite like them, nor the interior fabric/insert options of their hybrid system, my favorite brand with that style. Their O.N.E. diaper, a design that really does incorporate EVERYTHING, is o.n.e. of a kind.
bumGenius/Imagine/Blueberry: Alright, it’s hard to choose just one of these, though with each of these three brands we like their pocket-style most. Many of the bGs and Imagines we received as gifts with purchase, so they were great fillers for our stash. Blueberry also has ultra-cute prints and a variety of styles. I find all three of these brands to have a similar, somewhat generous pocket cut and general reliability. When in doubt we pull out one of these brands. Our flats are all these three brands (Hemp Babies related to bG/Cotton Babies). If someone else is changing the babe these are the brands I pull out first.
Lynette is a mom of three children from 10 months to age five. She has cloth diapered all three since birth and enjoys all things eco-friendly and mindful living.
