The competition in the adult diaper industry is more competitive than ever. Competition could not be more noticeable in the adult diaper industry as it is in the adult baby and diaper lover community where each diaper is inspected, criticized, praised, and analyzed to every little detail. Sometimes these analyzations can lead to over analyzing which can cause some major issues in similar/parallel reviews of adult diapers. The big guns in the adult diaper industry such as Secure Personal Care, Bambino Diapers, Abena, Molicare, and Attends try to attract certain certain cliques of the adult diaper users.
- Bambino Diapers
- Abena X-Plus
- Secure X-Plus
- ABUniverse Diapers
Unfortunately, many of the adult diaper manufacturers have started manufacturing their diapers without the ABDL community in mind leaving only a very select few of good adult diapers for the ABDL community to use and even the incontinence community. Attends was once an amazingly absorbent diaper that was soft, thick, and comfortable. Now, they rank up there with depends absorbency (poor) and their comfort is also poor in comparison to what it used to be. More and more adult diaper manufacturers are competing for the “quietness” factor by switching their adult diapers to cloth like outer coverings. This is much to the dismay of adult babies and diaper lovers as many of them like that plastic outer covering which is actually more expensive to manufacture than cloth (cloth is cheaper to manufacture). Even brands like Molicare have created the “breathable” adult diapers which essentially has less padding on the wings which means less absorption unfortunately. What all this points to is a competitiveness for incontinence users that HAVE TO wear diapers rather than those who enjoy the feel of an adult diaper. After all the incontinence community is much larger than the adult baby and diaper lover community.
The competition within the adult baby and diaper lover community for adult diapers is heating up. The main competitors that have come forward consist of:
While there are other major brands such as Molicare, Tranquility, and Attends…they are not actively competing for anywhere remotely the stock of popularity within the ABDL community. Each diaper manufacturer has some huge strengths and some weaknesses…some more glaring than others but nonetheless, they are each competing in some form for popularity. Here are some strengths of each company:
- Bambino Diapers: Known to be the most absorbent adult diaper on the market as well as the softest inner-lining. Phenomenal customer support. Very focused on their reputation and producing flawless diapers. Using cutting-edge materials to add better absorbency, comfort, and softness. VERY focused towards providing products for the ABDL community.
- Abena X-Plus: Known as one of thickest adult diapers because of the added fluff they add to their diapers. Great absorbency. Good customer support. Products readily available in stores. Serious tape problems is their only downside. Their tapes are known for not staying on and popping off easily.
- Secure X-Plus: Similar to the Bambino Diapers features in many aspects. Super high absorbency, almost as absorbent as bambino diapers. Soft and comfortable. Geared towards providing the best adult diapers specifically to the incontinence community.
- ABUniverse (Diapers and Products): Many products geared towards the ABDL community. Trying to create more products on a regular basis. Customer support problems. Good absorbency. Very focused towards the ABDL community with providing a lot of products the ABDL community. Shipping delays can sometimes be an issue with them depending on the time. Prices extremely high. But, you have to give them credit because they are trying to support the ABDL community even if their products are not on the same level as the other companies/products.
Competition is good and should be welcomed because it only makes the companies try to produce better and better products. Its unfortunate that there are really only a few big guns in the adult diaper industry that gear towards the ABDL community. The four companies listed above seem pretty geared towards sticking with plastic-backed diapers (a main staple in the ABDL community) which is a lot more than many other diaper companies can say as they have switched to cloth or are using cheaper materials. I would say Bambino Diapers is the front runner as far as the best adult diaper on the market in regards to features, absorbency, and technology used in their adult diapers…but Abena and Secure are close behind. ABUniverse is competing well especially with their new Cushy diaper but their problem is they don’t have the same absorbency (less absorbent) as the other diaper companies and their price is still too high as well as features are lacking from ABUniverse products. But, hopefully as time grows each company continues to get better and furthers the adult diaper competitiveness in both the incontinence and ABDL market..
Hi. Sounds interesting and they could be duking it out for a while. Bambino and ABU for the ABDL community and Abena and Secrue Personal Care for the incontince community. Yeah, SPC and Abena and cross over to the ABDL side for thickness and say Bambinos and ABU over to the incontince side say for stress relief and a small joke not knowing how one handles having to wear diapers for medical vs ABDL/personal reasons. I don’t know when, but sometime down the road I plan to get some quality cloth diapers just to take a break from disposables. Besides each diaper on its own who knows if they cross over to ABDL vs Medical reasons. Prints vs no prints Wetness Indicater vs no wetness indicater. Can’t they all find a balance?!?! Still don’t have any idea about ABU for ordering myself from what all has been said about them for absordency, price, and customer service. Like I said about them, only time will tell. Keep up the great topics and take a break from ABDL and mention from time to time something unrelated to change up topics. Take it easy.
All American and shaip mainly in America only
I’d like to point out that the plastic backed preference is almost purely generational. There’s a very solid tie between what we wore as infants vs. what we choose to wear as abdls. Think of older abdl’s, say those who are above the age of 40. They wore cloth as infants and today, I believe a majority of those abdl’s reach for cloth as a preference, whereas they may choose disposable for convenience sake.
The younger crowd, those under say 30 likely wore plastic backed disposables as infants. Therefore the vast majority will choose a plastic backed disposable today as abdl’s. Adrian, I know you’re in that crowd, so am I and so are most of the people I associate with in the community. I don’t wear, I’m a daddy, however, I prefer the look and feel and everything else of the plastic backed disposable on my wife and lg. Cloth I could care less about, and a breathable disposable just isn’t as fun.
Now you sort of sneer when you mention how companies are moving toward the breathable cloth backed disposables. I assume you don’t like them either. After all they leave a lot to be desired, and have a long way to go before they are ever as good as a plastic backed adult diaper. However, the upcoming generation of soon to be abdl’s – I can only make an educated guess here – will probably choose a cloth backed disposable once they enter the scene.
There’s a definite link between what we wore as children to what we choose to wear as adults. Please prove me wrong if you think you can, but I think the writing is on the wall. But then again, only time will tell….
Eman: I agree with you…I didn’t think about that but I do agree with you. I do not like cloth diapers for a lot of reasons. I do like that crinkle sound that cloth doesn’t give. I feel cloth diapers are not as good quality (personal opinion). Cloth diapers will make weird rub marks on your clothes such as shorts depending on the fabric. I have had a number of shorts that are now ruined basically from where the cloth diaper from a long time ago would rub on the polyester or cotton shorts and cause these little rub marks that made the shorts not smooth in that spot anymore.
i havent found anything good with cloth yet
when touching it feels weird
when wet it chaffs more and earlier than with plastic
seems to control odors worse
etc
Anyone of us who was an 80’s baby is going to have a preference for plastic backed.
Are molicares really not plastic backed in your area? I love the (very soft) plastic they use for their european diapers, and they swell up nicely and have a very soft inner lining, too, around here 🙂
I just wanted to point out that Abena has come out with a cloth covered diaper that is quite good. I’m not a fan of them, but I didn’t have the leak problem that usually comes with cloth covers. I also didn’t have the tape pop problem with them. I prefer them when I am with friends that don’t know I’m AB as they don’t make the crinkle. The comfort is almost as good as the bambino diapers that I prefer. Just thought you should know.
Lots of these diapers have changed over the years, no pun intended *laughin*. Molicares started with poor tapes but they got batter and don’t pop off. they were same width but now the bottom ones are wider and tops thinner.
Attends are probably the biggest change. As you stated they were thicker and more absorbant but now more akin to depends. But what you missed was the tapes stuck well and were blue and now are white and say attends all over them. very disappointed with these now. i used to get these a lot cause you got a big bang for your buck and quantity.
Abena – The changed the amount of fluff they’ve had a few times, mainly in the front. The tapes originally weren’t that good but i think they are not as you say now pop from the diaper. At first yes but now I have never had that happen to me since the newer ones. Have you still adrian?
Exactly what you said about the clothlike cover has been my issue. I always found the clothlike cover to be a rougher surface and would chaff or rub me the wrong way more often than not. Plastic is just my fave 🙂
Cwick
p.s. stay healthy and happy all
I don’t think the cloth-like backing of some disposable diapers is necessarily cheaper, and it’s really not cloth at all. It’s actually paper, fabricated to look and feel like cloth, but it also sits on top of a plastic backing that’s thinner than a regular plastic backed disposable, but it’s still plastic. Otherwise, the diaper wouldn’t be waterproof. I think the thinner plastic needs to be bonded to the paper like material in order to be strong enough to not tear. I haven’t found that such diapers don’t breathe any better than a conventional plastic disposable. They feel hotter and less comfortable in the summertime. But they are good for stealthiness.
I’m definitely a plastic backed disposable kind of person. I think the Attends with elastic waist are still a pretty good diaper – not as absorbent as the Bambino and others, but with a Bambino booster pad in them, they’re great. And they crinkle pretty well, too. I love the crinkliness of such a diaper when I’m wearing one. It makes me feel so much like I’m wearing the same type of diaper as a baby or toddler did in the ’80s. And the ’80s were awesome.
i’ve been wearing abena xplus and abena supers later as opposed to my usual bambino secure plus mix. I find the tapes of the abena to have improved quite a bit. Its kind of annoying though they stick so well that I have to reposition the tapes using the top white side and then after that good luck trying it again. My wife diapers me so sometimes I need to reposition when I stand *years of diapering myself I’m a bit picky*lol
anyway I am an 80’s baby so I really dont like cloth back as much, though i really did start out a fan of them. I think tenas are what broke me of that. The tapes are of extremely poor quality and they are so thin. In my opinion the plastic back of the abena xplus or bambino classico has that very soft firm plastic that is so much better than cloth and thank God it doesnt leak lol
Cloth I’ve never enjoyed. I have A pin on 3 velcro diaper covers and 3 all in ones. I have never liked wearing and using cloth for a few reasons mostly though because I get a worse rash and quicker and honestly I have never been one to really sit in a wet or messy diap. I like to be changed once the diaper is soiled.
I wear for incontinence reasons and I love the bambino diapers. My favorite. They are a great diaper. I used to wear attends but they’re very noisy. Bambino’s are quieter. However, they do not fit well under all of my pants because they’re quite thick so although I always wear bambino to sleep, I sometimes wear Tena ultra during the day. Quieter and thinner.
That’s the frustrating thing I think for those of us who like plastic diapers, the “cloth-like” covering is actually plastic too. It’s a layer of plastic with a layer of “spun” plastic on top. Similar to how they make cotton candy, only with plastic and it’s rolled flat. In my experience, they rely on the cloth-like layer to provide support and use a thinner solid plastic layer. As a result, I find that those diapers tend to “weep” when wet, they get wet on the outside and not from overflow. Like many things, it just feels like we’re being sold something as a “feature” that is really not as good as the original.
It’s similar to diapers that are “thin” because they rely almost completely on gel. They don’t stay thin, they doesn’t hold up structurally when wet (gel collects in the bottom), and they don’t wick the wetness to the other parts of the diaper, so — in my experience at least — hold less than those that use a combination of fluff and gel, and start thicker but don’t get much thicker when wet.
Hi again. I have some good news from my first order from ABU. On 2-26-10 I had a live chat with them that helped me ease off some of the cravings I’ve felt for their new chusies. Last week on the 16th I placed an order for a ten pack of there chusies for $21.95 and $4.95 shipping for $26.90 total. That is high even for a ten pack. I recieved that orde the following week on the 23rd. Yeah with their prices, plan well ahead for what you want and those would be a major treat type of diaper for best stay at home on a dark rainy day kinda of purchase. There customer support hours for live chat our 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM pacific time Monday-Friday/ 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM eastern. Those hours were from a chat transcript when I had my chat on 2-26-10. Also order some Bambino Diapers that same day and got them at about the same time that following week. Have a good night everyone.
I wear Abena and have since there introduction to the market, I have watched a very nice diaper turn to a rather generic pharmacy diaper in just a years time, I thought I would bring an article to attention that my wife pointed out in Parenting magazine, the number of late potty training babies is on the rise and one of the main concerns was the toddlers find it harder to distinguish between the cloth backed diaper and real cloth like underwear, the transition from a plastic backed diaper or a bulky cloth diaper between their legs seems to be more noticed when going to training pants or underwear, This may cause some concern with the more descreat feel, comfort and look of diapers over the past few years, babies tend to not know the difference as they make them more like regular childrens underwear this is making the transition and potty training much harder. I see this could cause manufactures to still hold on to the plastic backing, but as minor as this may seem it is obvious that some parents are concerned why there toddler is having problems getting out of diapers? although if you really think about it I think most manufactures would want nothing more since that just means the longer your baby stays in diapers the more sales the company makes in the long run, so maybe this is a premeditated change or (plan) on their part. personally I think there should be more choice of all types, and much more competition to give some of these cheap companys a run for there money.
i still love the attends w/waist band there plastic and make lots of noise
i am so sick of how diapers seem to made better for babies than they are for adults. adults like myself have to wear diapers too sometimes.(im a bed wetter and wear diapers for convenience too)i tried depends a few years ago but they are not very good. i also tried attends recently and they totally suck. and i noticed the shape of the adult diapers is not very attractive. they just look really ugly. and when i wet the diapers the filling seems to break up and bunch to the middle. the diapers also start leaking after i wet them more than twice. but i noticed that baby diapers dont leak as much and the filling doesnt break up or bunch. and they look alot nicer too. also they are more comfortable when wet. but the adult diapers are very uncomfortable once they are wet more than twice. i used to be able to wear pampers size 6 but that was until i turned 9 and after that i had to start using adult diapers because the pampers were not absorbing enough. i just wish i could find a decent diaper.