When Pallavi Utagi became a mother, she also gave birth to the idea of diapers that would be sustainable, reusable, and would not add to the world’s growing pile of plastic waste.
Utagi was a worried mom as her infant was suffering from constant rashes caused by the diapers available in the market. Such diapers have also given rise to a bevy of over-the-counter anti-rash ointments. She has been searching for a solution to the problem.
Utagi, who has a marketing background with some of the country’s most prominent pharmaceutical companies, says her search was fueled by her belief in sustainable living and mindful parenting.
Thus came into being SuperBottoms UNO - the world’s simplest-ever cloth diapers. This would later expand into other products like dry feel langot, diaper pants, potty-training pants, and even upcycled toys and special needs diapers. Today it is a company that has Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt as an investor.
Traditional diapers use polyethylene and polypropylene plastics in the outer layer which provide a dry feel to the baby and ensure waterproofing. The insides are lined with SAPs (Super Absorbent Polymers) and are heavily scented to mask unpleasant odors. Polyethylene’s ill effects, in the extreme, can lead to childhood cancer while polypropylene, though safer, does release microplastics. SAPs hold liquids—anywhere from 50 to 500 times their weight—but are non-biodegradable, just like other components of diapers (and other sanitary products like menstrual pads). Even the fasteners, leg cuffs, seams, joints, and fragrances embedded in diapers are heavily reliant on polypropylene.
Moreover, plastic recycling, for all the chatter around it, is still poorly understood with only nine per cent of it being done the proper way.
Though many Indian parents still use langots (loincloth) and choose diapers when the babies are out of their homes, these must be changed every time a baby urinates. UNO scores over them with an absorbent capacity that is almost 12 times that of the traditional langots.
The journey of SuperBottoms UNO begins with careful procurement of organic cotton, followed by stringent checks and inspections. The raw materials are then meticulously cut and prepared for stitching and buttoning, a process done through both- hands and machines. After stitching and buttoning, each diaper undergoes final checks. The diapers are so constructed that one can last for three years. That translates into more than 300 uses per diaper. They also come with leak and odor-proof cloth bags to handle soiled diapers.
Utagi does not look at SuperBottoms as just a company. “We are a parenting partner that is driven to curate solutions while upholding values of quality innovation, conscious parenting, and sustainability at its core”, she says.