In the News

Kitchener-Waterloo Record Front-Page Business Section, December 16, 2009



December 16, 2009
By Frances Barrick
Couple’s cloth diaper service has caught on in a big way
BADEN- Jill and Mike Lawrence are as surprised as anyone over the success of their cloth diaper service. “If someone told us four years ago that we would be running a diaper service, I would have said you are absolutely nuts.” says Jill, who with her husband Mike owns Bear Bottoms Diaper Service.

But today the Baden-based business has 568 customers and cleans about 385,000 cloth diapers a week. Their surprise over their business starts with the fact the couple never planned to have children, but then their daughter Charlize, was born. The Lawrence’s were living in Alberta at the time. After they moved back to Ontario to be close to family, they couldn’t find a cloth diaper service in Waterloo Region. Charlize, now 4 was allergic to disposable diapers.

So they decided to start their own diaper service, banking on Jill’s marketing and financial background and Mike’s experience running a warehouse to help them in the venture. “She is why we are doing this,” Jill 34, says of their daughter.

In August 2006, they opened for business in a 1,000 square foot warehouse on Arnold Street in Kitchener, by the end of the year, they had 50 customers. Business was so good, they quickly outgrew their Kitchener location. In May 2008, they moved to a 4,400 square-foot warehouse in Baden. “We weren’t expecting to grow so fast” says Jill.

Now the Lawrence’s are starting to franchise the concept. A Bear Bottoms franchise recently opened in Oakville and another one is in the works in London, Ont. The Lawrence’s are also fielding franchise inquiries from Cleveland, Ohio. The fee for starting a Bear Bottoms franchise is $35,000 and set-up costs are $150,000.

Initially, the Lawrence’s used manufacturer in China to make their fitted cloth diapers with snaps, but problems with quality and delivery delays forced the Baden Couple to look elsewhere. “Literally, it was the slow boat from China,” Jill says. They started their own manufacturing business, called Buddi Direct Inc. Their diapers are made by a seamstress in neighboring New Dundee who, with the help of other seamstresses, makes up to 1,000 diapers a week, including diapers for companies in British Columbia and the Netherlands.

New Parents get customs-fit diapers, ranging in size from tiny ones for premature babies to larger diapers for older children. For $19.95 a week, diapers are delivered to the home and picked up once a week. Jill says some people call them the “diaper fairy” because their drivers never ring the doorbell or knock in case mother or baby are sleeping.

Their clients live in Waterloo Region, London, Guelph, Elora, and Fergus and more. All people have to do is put their dirty diapers in a pail Bear Bottoms provides; no rinsing or soaking is required. The company sells a “bear spray” which is a natural odor neutralizer that can be sprayed inside the pail.

Cleaning the diapers at the warehouse takes one hour and 40 minutes. Diapers are washed and rinsed
Seven times, twice in 160-degree water and each load is tested to ensure it is clean. “we go from poop to pristine,” Jill says

She rhymes off the reasons why she believes new parents should choose cloth diapers:
• No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose
• In China, disposable diapers are banned because they are hurting the drinking water.
• Every baby generates about 1.7 tons of disposable diapers
• Around the world disposable diapers are the third most common item thrown into landfill sites

Isn't it time for a change?


Telephone: 519-634-8600     diapers@bearbottoms.ca     Toll Free: 1-877-423-2726