Show Transcription

Bailey Bouwman  00:00

This is show 83 of the cloth diaper podcast. This is part two with Stephanie from bumby. Well, part one we talked about why and where her business came from. And then we kind of went into the nitty gritty behind a wash routine. Part Two, we’re going to kind of wrap it up, we’re gonna look at a few other things and talk about the future of her business.

Bailey Bouwman  00:31

Welcome back. My name is Bailey. I am the host of the cloth diaper podcast, the cloth diaper podcast. It has been around for a while now and we’ve been talking with parents brands and retailers about their cloth diapering experience. I am so excited for this episode. I mean, I was so excited for Episode 82.

Bailey Bouwman  00:46

I am really excited for every episode, every time that a brand approaches me and says, Hey, I want to be on the show. I feel incredibly honored to get to be that person to sit there and listened to the story to be led into somebody’s world and to be able to ask them questions about their diapering story, their experiences and what works for them and how we can support the community better is just, it is a complete honor and a complete privilege and it’s one that I do not take lightly and I take with the most seriousness. So we have had the incredible honor of listening and recapping stories and journeys with people for years now and I look forward to another exciting year. I have some amazing guests that I am recording today and tomorrow and over the next coming weeks.

Bailey Bouwman  01:40

We have Shine cloth we have Unicorn Clean that we have Kinder cloth. And we have a couple parents who are stepping up and providing their experiences because there’s no one way to cloth diaper. There’s lots of different ways and we can learn from each other. And we can learn to make cloth diapering simple again, make it simple. Let’s do this.

Bailey Bouwman  02:02

Anyways, onto conversation too. with Stephanie, she’s kind of going to do a recap here about what we just talked about in part one, and then we will kind of wrap up this conversation.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  02:16

Okay, I will try to think about a few different scenarios and be as succinct as possible. So you open up your package that you’ve purchased from a retailer directly from us you have a piece of well you’ve never used well before. And you’re like what am I supposed to do with this thing.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  02:32

So from us, we do not pre lanolize our wool everybody’s likes different amounts along the line if they want it on there so and it’s just too too convoluted of a process for us to do so it’s not pre lanolized, but it is pre washed so that we don’t use any weird harsh chemicals or any of that sort of thing you know, so we actually do everything with Unicorn products I do really really like the product. So you wash with a Unicorn and we also do a sauce a Unicorn softner the beyond nothing is scented oh you’re welcome to clean and fragrance free Okay, then you can depending on what you’re using for nighttime you’re probably gonna want to analyze first but you know most people I don’t know I’m like you know I go shopping and I want to wear my all my five new outfits the same day. So I want to put that thing right on the bumper.

Bailey Bouwman  03:23

So I can just put this brand new wool right on the bum?

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  03:26

it’s clean and it’s safe, you know, put it right in the box. The lanolin adds protection and boost and add it’s something I have so many clients that actually don’t even use lanolin and much but don’t they hide in a closet and don’t tell anybody about it though, so it’s not a big deal. I’m so glad I had

Bailey Bouwman  03:46

The Abrazo covers is two layers.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  03:51

Yes. Yeah,

Bailey Bouwman  03:53

I was like, I don’t know if I would even lanolize. I think I can probably. Yeah,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  03:57

yeah, absolutely. So the Unicorn Beyond soft, it actually helps conditionals fibers as well. So it’s not adding that the waterproofing or the antibacterial, but it is having conditional fibers so you know, it’s keeping those fibers safe and healthy, which is cool. So you can stick around to the bottom you’re good to go.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  04:16

Now depending on your absorbency and the wetness protection, you may want to start thinking about analyzing at this point. So if you decide that you want to lanolize before putting it on the bum.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  04:26

I like to do my quick method, which is a little bit of water, a little bit of lanolin and a little bit of milk, you make your emultion and you know like half a cup or a little bit of that into a little glass bowl for a little more water for the inside of your diaper cover into it of the wet zone of pants inside out. Always swishy swishy swishy and then kind of squeeze the water out.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  04:48

You should be left with a bowl of very little soapy water and a lot of what’s going to jump right onto the wool because that’s where it wants to be. And then you turn it side out you love your right your insides together a little bit so that you get out The lanolin kinda get pushed into those fibers. What is it for a minute, then we want to rip out that soapy water that’s left in the fibers of your rinse and spin into machine. freakin and rinse it and you’re saying, it’s my friends.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  05:13

Take it out, try to get the soap out, not gonna micromanage you because I don’t micromanage anybody. And then that let it dry, okay, but it on the bum, and you’re good to go. If it’s sticky,

Bailey Bouwman  05:25

if it’s sticky, people always ask me about Sticky, sticky wool,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  05:30

okay, so there’s, that’s one thing so. So if it’s too sticky, one of the concerns that I don’t know people really think about too much is that lanolin is sticky, that means that it’s actually coming off on you, which means it’s going to come off on the baby’s legs, which could be cool, it’s nice and moisturizing comes off in your hand, cool, maybe moisturizing, coming off on the outside of your diaper isn’t always necessarily the greatest thing either. Because I can coat your diapers and make them a little bit water repellent, which you don’t really want.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  06:00

So this is something I haven’t really talked about too much. But it is a little bit of a concern in the back of my brain. So having that lanolin in your fibers is what you’re trying to do. So you know, and then you’re coding it in a waxy coating, it’s nicer to have it surrounding this shaft as opposed to just coating it like cellophane, which is again why I kind of layering it because it lets it get in more rather than just, you know, slapping it on.

Bailey Bouwman  06:25

And that would be like, again, like kind of emphasizing this quick lano process instead of a long, slow process. If you just kind of focus on the wet zone. And doing it quickly instead of soaking overnight. Maybe that lanolin sticky build up that’s happening with people is less likely correct.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  06:44

Yes, exactly. And some people love the stickiness. And if you want it, you like it, you’re okay with all the consequences and just do a couple of layers. And you’re gonna get it sticky. Like really quickly. Like if it happens

Bailey Bouwman  06:55

in my DMS because I didn’t want to stick and they’re worried that it’s gonna, like harm their child. I’m always like, well, it’s good. Yeah.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  07:05

It’s totally fine. But no, it’s Thank you.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  07:07

So this is again, why I like doing that little bit, it gives you complete control. I know exactly how much I’m putting in there. And if I want to put more I can give you that control. Right?

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  07:15

So it’s my like, again rinsubg to get the soap oyut now, okay, you put it on your kid, whether lanolized or not, right. And your kids eat in a diaper and your role is a little bit down with urine. You know, you let it air dry, and you’re going to want to smell it a little bit doesn’t reek of urine, then you might want to do something, does it not read? And it’s cool, you’re good to use it again. You’re okay. Did your diaper leak? Well, maybe you need to add a little bit more absorbency? Or maybe you need to add a little bit more lanolin.

Bailey Bouwman  07:43

On General, how long do you find people are able to use one piece of wool at night before washing?

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  07:52

Well, that really depends on a lot of things. There’s a lot of variables because you know, how old is the child? Is there? are they eating solids? Because like toddler urine is way stronger than newborn urine, right? How much pee is coming out? Are they breastfeeding? And like there’s massive amounts of pee this

Bailey Bouwman  08:11

washing it every day or should to be able to go a few days.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  08:16

So what I’m recommending is so you smell it? If it thinks wash it, okay, if it doesn’t stink, how does it feel like you can kind of feel like when, when the urine is dissolving. It’s, it’s interacting with the lanolin. And it’s creating these urine salts. So I’m saying rinse it doesn’t stink really bad, but it’s starting to feel a little crusty, almost. There’s a

Bailey Bouwman  08:41

trust yourself.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  08:46

And you but you can rinse it. So if you just rinse it in water, you’re gonna wind up the salt. That leaves lanolin. And you don’t have to like even think too hard, just like rinse and refresh of that. I was like, This is brilliant, like, you know, and then if it gets goop on it, or is really smelling bad, then wash it.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  09:02

But a lot of people are like, Oh, I don’t want to wash it too much. I don’t want to wash all that lanolin out. It’s because they spent a billion dollars on the lanolin that they’re putting in and it takes them a day and a half to lanolin. Well use less, it doesn’t cost as much and it should take you five.

Bailey Bouwman  09:15

So one. One question that I got posed recently was about like so about those poop explosions and how to really get that poop out of the wool. Do you have any advice for people who get like especially breastfed poop? Especially just like, Yeah,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  09:31

well, I know that breast fed poop is quite a lot. It stains a lot worse.

Bailey Bouwman  09:36

It’s pretty seedy. And it seems to just like really love to get into wool,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  09:41

well it can and the lanolin is going to help just really nurture that stain, honestly. So having a little bit less lanolin can help with that a little bit.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  09:52

But like I just found it the poop kind of adheres to lanolin and then if you’re not missing out the lanolin then it’s just you’re having lanolin mixed with poop stuck in a diaper fibers, you know what I mean?

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  10:03

So I was just to put a little bit of silicone into it, you know, do a little nail scrub and stick it in the washing machine, just like what you would do with a diaper do the same thing, you’re not going to want to bleach it. If you want to send out things, you can do it, make sure you’re doing it inside out, keep an eye on it, because the sun can really especially when it’s wet, it interacts differently. It’s like the light goes through the water molecules and like radiates, it bleeds out the color a lot more with the wool.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  10:33

So it’s something to be concerned about. But at the end of the day, if it smells clean, I mean, it’s a diaper. So I’m like one of those. I’m not a big, same kind of gal, I just kind of ignore things a little bit. But you know, you might get a little bit more on those themes. So with a male scrub, I’ve been hearing that our same stick works really well though, because I use, I use like a really, I don’t do the super fat that I mentioned before, so it’s a little bit more alkaline is soap. And then it has some really good lemon and lemongrass essential oils in it and grapefruit and it just, it’s like kicking those things out really well. So I got like, it may need to take a picture like getting the stains out of the ring around the collar, my husband’s like dress shirt, it took it out really well. I’m like Dang, I made that. I don’t think

Bailey Bouwman  11:19

I don’t really talked about it in this show. But when we’ve chatted in the past, you when you get your wool, you’ve you’ve kind of like you’ve thrown it in the commercial washer, and you’ve boiled it and like so if you really want to get in there and kind of scrub like you’re not going to ruin it to get

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  11:37

Yeah, if you’re going to if you’re going to take a really harsh acrid soap, and to a hand knit, and then put it in like to warmer water or scrub it, you’re going to wreck it you’re going to shrink it is going to be like a doll clothes sweater. But you’re not going to do that to Angela, you can handle it. Okay, yeah, you can handle it.

Bailey Bouwman  11:57

You can put a little spa treatment on it, you can give it a little swish wash, a little rub agitation action to kind of treat it without you

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  12:04

know, and then. But just making sure the thing that I would be the most concerned about damaging is the soap leaving the soap in there. Because that will it’s it’s more dense, it’s tightly, it’s felted. And it’s more tightly knit together. And like I said before, it’s a double sided net, so it’s really sick. So there’s not a lot of like, even get the dice. And then when we’re dying it like it doesn’t penetrate well. So when you get like that poop in lanolin penetrate right into the center of that, well, you need to get in there to get it out. Or also just stay in there. So

Bailey Bouwman  12:36

get it out. Get it out, get out. Get out. Get out the so we want to leave our wool just wool.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  12:43

Well. Yes. All right, and don’t be scared to wash it. And if you’re using an easier lanolin process, and it’s not so daunting to wash it. Yeah, no,

Bailey Bouwman  12:52

I think all of our wash here this entire conversation about washing can help really kind of distinct by it. And I know that you said that you’ve been doing some videos so we’ll make sure that I include some links and we can check out the bumby wolf bumby comm what’s your website and you’ve got content there and your group has content there too.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  13:12

Right? Bumbywool.com and I am we just relaunched the website October 1 and I feel like there’s some really there’s on every single one of the diapering listings like all the pads and everything there’s these really cool tabs on the bottom that walk you through how to wash and how to finalize and really funny on them to like this like little like just stick it in the washing machine and you have to watch it Unicorn does that

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  13:35

but it’s it doesn’t have to be hard and I I like to I live by the KISS principle to keep it simple. But I’m not stupid, but I like to kiss everything you know and just it doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be hard. And I’m also thrifty, I hate wasting like dumping out lanolin like that’s painful. I don’t want to waste like I don’t want to like a molecule that I want to waste. You know and so my whole everything is built around keeping the wool safe and using the little product as possible.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  14:10

I’m not like if you listen to it, I’m not even trying to sell you anything I’m not trying to sell you as much a Unicorn as I can or as much lanolin when as I can. I just got a 500 pound drum of lanolin  when in I which obviously I need to be selling because it was crazy. I get that. But that’s all my my purpose is to get as much healthy and functional well out to people to reduce our landfills and to support that customer service and that customer journey so that people know what they’re doing and feel comfortable with it and it doesn’t need to be scary. It needs to be fun and pretty. It Yeah,

Bailey Bouwman  14:47

I mean I always think I think if I have a third baby it will probably be just fitteds and wool. Because so much of what I’ve learned about wool diapering since I’ve had my last baby is this just like it’s even simpler than this qL system. And we have somehow overcomplicated the conversation over the last decade and we need to definitely go back to simple. I had a

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  15:08

I’ve seen people like oh, I just find like we’re lanolizing. I’m washing my will so soothing and meditating. I spent four hours doing it. And he can hear me. No, are you making like head motion that me?

Bailey Bouwman  15:24

Ours was like, well, I really I really don’t. I really don’t I have no I was making I had movement because I had a really good thought about washing well before I left, and I lost it. But we were kind of talking about your business. And so let’s move on to what is so bumby wool right now what are you doing? What can we buy from you your products, you’ve just launched a new cover. This is a whole lot of topics really. But so

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  15:52

well, I I’m really focused on expanding the business. This isn’t a hobby in my basement, which it definitely was for a while. But I, I have the most amazing women that we work with. And it is my job to give them words so that they can continue to come in and work every day. And then when they get messages from people Oh, I’m sorry, you sound so busy. And you have so much going on. And and, you know, I’m sorry to give you more work, I’m like, that’s what we want.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  16:21

You know, I want to give gainful employment to these amazing people on our team. And I’m taking some really big list of here we’re investing financially, and time into the website and into our processes. I have a fancy label maker, so I’m putting labels on everything. And we’ve invested a lot of time and energy into patterns, which we have over 3000 we have over 2000 pairs of pants pattern by pants, shorts, crops, you know, over 2000 patterns that are digitized, they are like saved in PDF form, paperless patterns.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  16:58

And then we have I don’t even know how many sweaters we have sweaters that basically and I was talking about this yesterday, they go from extra small, like newborn baby all the way to extra large and deciding a gender neutral. So it leans more towards like a man sizing. So I’m a plus size woman and I get to wear the extra large and that makes me really happy instead of like the 3x 5x, which it goes up to plus size and which is really cool. And every single one of our sweaters, including the best we’re going to be adding on to it goes from that size.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  17:32

So like we made one style that fits right across the whole way for everybody. And we’ve had little different features. And it just looks good on everybody too, which I love. So the contours and the pockets and the different finishing styles and everything right? So I’m really focused on on that we get asked all the time, do we do adult winter or adult pants, I just we can’t I get asked all the time. But I will the way that I’m really focused on having a really soft stubble and, and I just find with the it can bag out a little bit, when you get too big, like adult sizing big, it tends to fit really well and then an hour later it starts to get a little bit too bagged out and then so then it’s going to be too tight or too big, or it wears toward the crotch, or you know, there’s just it’s not the right, I guess at the end of the day, I just don’t feel it’s the right fabric for that product. So and I don’t feel good about it, it was keeping us up at night that you’re gonna get a hole in the crotch, like you want to spend $300 on a pair of pants that will fall off your butt in an hour or get a hole in the crotch writing that, you know, it’s really

Bailey Bouwman  18:39

important to to talk about that. I mean, we all want brands who are putting out products that they trusted for decades that are going to last us decades and not putting out products that just because people want it Right.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  18:52

Right. And that’s and I really tried and then we had a few that, like we made some hands. And then we sent them out and then then they’re like, well, if it was an instrument here, it would fit better or there and I’m like well send it back and I’ll fix it. And we’re spending like so we’re literally altering to fit your body.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  19:09

Like you can’t get that on the rack. You go into the Bay, you spend $500 on stuff you’re not going to get them to alter it for you like it’s just you know, and so the shipping back and forth and and then because I stand behind what we do, and I stand for our product and I want our customers happy. So it was just it was causing too much heartache and our tables not set up for cutting that long thing. Or there’s a flaw in the fabric. Or like you cut it half an inch too short.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  19:38

On a pair of pants. I mean I feel like we cut them like if it was too stressful. And my staff are like seriously we’ll have to quit if you say yes to one person. No, because I love them.

Bailey Bouwman  19:47

I think it’s funny because you do so much customization with people so parents was definitely that. The nail in the coffin. They’re like we’ll do every other customization you asked, but not pants. About you want to talk about a little bit of that you do so much customization with your diaper covers with your duck.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  20:06

Yes. So I, we were have a problem of saying yes to people. So I tried to reduce them having to make customizations by increasing our products so that we could hopefully fulfill more needs without having to customize. Because when you have to pause and think and like taking an inch off of something, it sounds really easy, but you do that time 200 you know, putting a stressful, you can put it and then go, Oh, I meant to add something in there too late, it’s done.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  20:34

You know, so we try to build that into the model that they have lots of different options. And then you can customize your colors, you can add bows and pockets, and we have patents for everything. So it’s, it’s putting different puzzle pieces together to make the product that you want. So and there’s literally 1000s of different options between all the different choices, you know, so

Bailey Bouwman  20:56

you can keep it simple by ordering directly with retailers, or lots of amazing retailers or you can just go customize, I’ve seen some amazing color combinations. Because when you go to bombi world calm, you’re gonna get asked for a body color, a waist color, a leg cuff color, and they don’t all have to be the same and you can be creative, or you can just keep it simple.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  21:17

Right? Yeah, and then our retailers they are getting product that’s just so you can point and click I want that and a medium click and you don’t have to think you know and you can do the same thing on our website too. You know, there’s, there’s you can just get a solid pair of pants and then that’s it even just, you have those choices. So I’m trying to streamline a process to be I’ve been joking about her for years that bombi is probably one of the most complicated buttons to buy from it is a little complicated and I’m trying to make it easier. B

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  21:45

ut I took bloomers out in the middle of winter one for like three hours and somebody I had three people messaging me going I’m planning my spring wardrobe and the bloomers aren’t on there or I wanted them for a party or something and like harassing me to put the bloomers back on like within it was within hours so I can’t I feel like I can’t remove any of these things because they’re all like my little babies anyway so I can’t

Bailey Bouwman  22:09

no one day that come around I mean if you’re looking if you’re looking for a retailer who’s got some simple options you can help walk you through what might be the best choice you’ve got those listed you’ve got a few in the US you’ve got a few here in Canada we got lots in Canada Of course and then some internationals as well. I’ve seen I know I have a lot of listeners from Israel guys there’s a lot physical retailer and she

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  22:30

is putting in an order right now is not messing with her this morning so

Bailey Bouwman  22:35

perfect. So you can be anywhere and everywhere. How incredible is that? What does that feel like for you? Stephanie to be 14 years and sending will international

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  22:46

I love it. I went to a business development thing and people were talking about national and how scary it was. And oh my I’ve been doing that for years, right? It’s not scary at all. I love it. And I love I love seeing different languages coming up on our on my newsfeed and and it’s just I think it’s amazing. We’re all brothers and sisters on this planet. And I just want to embrace that we Yeah, I love it. I don’t find it scary at all. And my family’s really international too. So I guess it’s just part of part of everything. I think it’s amazing. Um, but you know, shipping is expensive. So I’m finding all the shipping rates and making sure that we have all of our custom stuff sorted out and that everything is legal and aboveboard. And, you know, we’re taking care of taxes and making sure that everything is proper.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  23:32

So I really kind of nerd out on that a little bit. But this year, so really to get back to focus on your question, which was what is our focus, I really feel like we have been really enjoying the engagement that I’ve been having with our US clients and our US retailers. And that’s really where I want to focus. It’s, it’s such an obvious market for us to really target the while still nurturing and embracing our current clients as well as everybody around the world, I’m not alienating anybody. And really, if we need to create that consumer education, make sure that our retailers feel supported, making sure that the ordering process is streamlined and our clients are able to order and understand what they’re getting, and how to care for it and what everything means being transparent and open and clear and not a scattered Hummingbird like I’ve been for 14 years. And you know in partnering with great people like you and easy peasy and and I were sending a package to Jamie he may or may not know him, but excited to to hopefully partner with him as well. And just really focus on hitting that US market and I feel like everything was trying to stem from there as well. And it forces us to really I want to be a bigger player in that market and and it forces us to be organized as well which then every day I thought might come in and I’m like well you made another change like I’m just me arranging like the design and the flow of the shop

Bailey Bouwman  25:02

I love on your website right now and I love all the changes that have happened since we’ve last talked things feel really really easy to order you’ve done some really great changes there Stephanie on your website I’m

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  25:14

really happy with you go into like the product and I go on the tab on the bottom Do you see the tab? Yes. So and it says like the description and then the fighting charts right there. And then the watch if you click on terror, and it tells you like how to watch closely the step by step processes analyzing there’s like little little tricks and like funny like he and I wanted to be like I am I wrote all that stuff me personally, I didn’t hire somebody to do it. And I’m trying to inject my own personality is like your your friend is telling you what to do, because I genuinely care about what you’re doing and want you anybody who’s hearing this to feel supported. Like

Bailey Bouwman  25:51

you’re already shrunken anyways. Yes, yeah. Done the shrinking, you really can’t shrink it anymore. You’re gonna Yeah, we got this, you can do this, you can throw it in your washing machine, you can just make it easy by all and then you can do a load in your washing machine. And you don’t even have to worry about hand washing.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  26:11

Like I literally Chuck my my son’s will and with his other laundry. And I just put all my ducks together. And because it bless all of my laundry with unicorn too. So I just literally check my willen with my son’s clothes.

Bailey Bouwman  26:25

I thought it was gonna share earlier is that Melanie, I am chatting with Melanie this week from unicorn. So I’m going to have her show right after yours. So for the listeners, we’re going to be talking to unicorn clean unicorn baby. She does. Yeah. And so we’ll have all the details. Yeah, because when I was visiting Heather at Lillian Frank, that’s all like anybody, anybody who uses unicorn in their business model for their wholesale for their cleaning. Like they just can’t stop talking about it. So of course, I got to learn from Melanie and so that will be next week’s conversation and hopefully we’ll share some incredible wisdom.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  27:01

Yeah, no, I think it’s great. And she knows what she’s talking about. And, and you know, it’s a natural product and you know, you might say oh, well the tide did a better job of cleaning or whatnot, but then it creates some buildup and it it you know, you’re trading one thing for another and, you know, I I just the second I started using unicorns, I’m like, that’s it like I I literally throw it on my labels and the labels and you know how much I hate throwing stuff out there but unicorn and everything I yeah, like I just love the product so much. And again, I don’t even care where you get it from, I just want you to use it on our wool because it makes such a huge M.

Bailey Bouwman  27:40

And I everybody I know what we talk we’ve talked I’ve talked about this with other people too. But like, with unicorn, the price tag can seem scary, but you really don’t need a lot, it’s really a little it’s gonna go a long way. It’s so concentrated and just not even. It’s not like we’re pouring the whole tab in one night.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  27:59

And I did tell especially for a wool to like I I you can put like a teaspoon like a drop, you just you don’t mean much in there at all. So you take that 16 ounce bottle, I could fill up the whole big type thing that you Costco size thing, fill it up with water and put one 116 ounce in your equal kind of, in my opinion, like you need so little.

Bailey Bouwman  28:21

Yeah, so it’s like it’s gonna go a long way. Sometimes when I talk about well, people get worried about all the other costs associated with wool, it can feel a little daunting, but it’s also it’s a little goes a long way. With all that stuff. It’s not like you’re going to be regularly replacing your detergent and you’re not going to be as often or be you shouldn’t really be replaced like that. That big $40 tub of lanolin. A normal person who’s only using wool at night isn’t even going to go through all that. At least I didn’t I still have I have tons of lanolin or like a whole I bought like a big container from flume, and I barely made a dent in it and I cloth diaper to babies, I only use the wool at night

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  29:05

and if you’re using like the method that I’m talking about really doesn’t use that much you’re not wasting as much you have control over how much of it that is going in there. And then, and what’s really cool is that the resale value on wool is really nice too. And I really I want people to try the wool use they want it to go well in the buy, sell and trade and we do a lot of alterations and repairs. You know you send your five year old hair wool and you have a hole in the crotch. Well I’m going to mend that for you. So you can resell it so it keeps it out of the landfill and it gets a new person involved in bumby like it’s a win win all around. So when you’re selling your stuff, you can be like hey, I have this half a jar of Atlanta and I’m going to include I don’t need it anymore. When when you can sell that stuff right? Like it’s

Bailey Bouwman  29:50

Yeah, I passed it on cost because they’ve been doing some wool stuff so I passed it on to them and when a wool should work Ever finally hit its last stage it can break. It’s just it’s a natural fiber. I was just break down.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  30:06

Yeah, exactly. A little bit of lycra in there and but but it just it does that does break down too. And it it just has such a huge impact on the product and how it functions. That is that that toss off, you know that it isn’t 100% natural because of that little bit of life you’re in there. But I think that it’s worth it just because it it really increases that ease of use and where and and function

Bailey Bouwman  30:34

selling ever seen. I mean, have you ever seen what does a cover look like on its last legs? What I

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  30:43

mean, if you start to get really really stains, like Oh, just use it for nights and you can like you can sell the whole, like if you stick that into like a diaper sanitization wash, it’s going to, if I’m going to shrink up like always, eternally the rise, it tends to lose rise and actually get wider if you get it super hot. But you can still use it. I mean, I mean, it needs to get really, really, really bad. Like I’ve gotten some willen that that I’m like, wow, I haven’t used this label in nine years, I this is a 10 I was still looking pretty dang good. And I was able to search out the themes and the will itself the themes are the first things to kind of go a little bit, but the rest of it and then the knees right on pen playing IQ you can cut them off and make sure it’s there. We’ve been cutting out the knee hole entirely and adding like a new wedge to make some like a bold almost, you know, so it and then we can increase the inseam as well.

Bailey Bouwman  31:32

So you’re saying like the weakest, the weakest link on this as the seam is like the thread you’ve used, which really speaks a lot to the quality of the actual textile itself.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  31:41

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the abroad. So you asked me about their basketball, Nebraska, something that I’ve been thinking about for a really long time. So I wanted some of the issues that I had with diapering was that the elastics or break down or snap, and then trying to get in there and fix them is a pain in the butt. Putting snaps in is a nightmare. Like I was doing snaps, I hate them. You put them in it puts a hole in the fabric. And then if you don’t put them in, right, they’ll fall out or they break. And you have to buy special machinery for it. And then

Bailey Bouwman  32:15

watching Heather’s machine set up for her stamps. I was just like, oh Lord, like I can’t imagine doing this. No wonder why people get out of it.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  32:25

Yeah, so it’s, and then it also the wool is such a nice knit. Again, it’s a knit right, so you’re going to be snapping those fibers in there. And then it pulls it stretchy, so snaps fall out of the wool way more easily. If you’re using a boiled wool or really heavily felted wool, it stays in better, better will doesn’t mean you have to reinforce it with something that isn’t well painted the content, I just none of it really worked. So I really wanted to incorporate having a cuff in it that didn’t have elastic. I really wanted to have Velcro been involved next to fiber like fabric. That was scary. I thought about her that doesn’t stick to the wool. And then I wanted to have the washing tab. And I wanted to have it so I didn’t take forever to dry. So that’s why there’s a hole in the middle so you can actually air dry it more, you can also stop in the pocket. But extra absorbency in there. You can also put lanolin inside of there. Right?

Bailey Bouwman  33:20

turn it inside out and analyze. Yeah, that’s this if I really wanted to,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  33:25

like pour some inside, squishy squishy and then pour it out. Brilliant, right? Hi no genius.

Bailey Bouwman  33:33

Brands because they share the secret that they they keep to themselves. They try to explain it. But people find that line on their website and then yeah, squishy.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  33:43

And then and then I wanted to have like the crossover like that loss of space to change the rise as well as the the waist to make it adjustable. So that last is and you can buy one of us a cover that will fit your baby right from beginning to end and not like I’m not trying to sell you as much as I can. I’m trying to provide the best product that will last you as long as you can. That’s why I want

Bailey Bouwman  34:11

a newborn. And if you had a petite child that definitely would go until about 2530 pounds easily.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  34:18

Yeah, like my case, it’s only really like fit in mediums, right. So the time that they were done diapering, so that medium would probably be a little bit too big on them when they were newborns but they were nine pounder so I could probably descend down with a medium the whole way through.

Bailey Bouwman  34:34

I was super excited to see this because I think about the pull on cover there was something about the pants, but just like I always hated pulling off a cover especially if you’ve a flat and they’ve had a big poop and it just sometimes it was a nightmare. So the idea of a cover just seemed really attractive to me. And I was so excited to see this product come out.

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  35:05

Well, I appreciate that. And I’m trying to make it like I, the devil lay enough of that people want to turn in top search, they don’t want to have the theme. Because the steams can get more gunk in them too, right with the best pencil. And a cover like that is going to probably be used with something that maybe isn’t going to capture as much. So you’re going to see a little bit more activity of the, you know, the cool explosions, perhaps on the wool. So I wanted it to be seamless, like the hidden theme I wanted. Yeah, there’s all those little things that as a user, as a mom, that cloth diaper I had to incorporate, and it was really, really important to me. And, yeah,

Bailey Bouwman  35:44

it feels less scary. For some reason, I don’t know why I pull on cover feels scary. But it did. And so this idea of just a regular cover, it feels like it’s something I know already. So it’s not like I have to figure something out again,

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  36:00

at the end. But it’s different than anything else out there. So and those things. I mean, I looked into patenting that and but it is like a 75 step process to sell that thing. So it’s not crooked, like we had. So the evolution of that product, it was a really long time, and to sell it so it doesn’t become a wonky, wonky and actually fits and then like it’s in training my staff to help sell them so that I wasn’t the only one doing them was daunting as well. So they’re gonna

Bailey Bouwman  36:28

love it. How, what has been your customer feedback? What are people thinking about it, um, the customer

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  36:33

feedback has been really good. We tried it on a few people locally, that that wasn’t really good. I think that people are so used to having to size up and getting things to be, I’m all about longevity and longevity. So they’re like, Oh, I need to get the large on my three month old and it’s like, well, that might be a little too big. So it doesn’t say

Bailey Bouwman  36:53

I ordered the extra large for you for that mom was working on this plus size, supersize, big kit. I know none of those words were working on diapering past 50 pounds. And she was like, I fold it down the rise. It was huge. Yeah, these are definitely size. Right?

Stephanie, Bumby Wool  37:08

Yeah, and, I mean, depends on the diaper that goes under me too. You know, it really has a big impact to the actual hours. Like if it’s an extra large, it’s, it’s for a big diaper to go on a larger child. So and I also want to look into Hallelujah, trying to be on a daily basis to not be able to lunch. They’re really great. So I’m very excited about the raffle, I think that is it’s really going to help launch us to capture more market share, especially in our target, which is the United States right now. And we’ve been getting a great response people are rebuying the, you know, they’re coming back for more. And when I when I was doing that business course that I was taking that to the government, they were, they’re talking about some of our numbers. And one of the numbers that I’m most proud of is that pretty consistently, and I’m talking for years, the number of repeat customers, I’d say, on a monthly basis is about 50% of new clients, and 50% are repeat, return clients, people are coming back. And there’s a reason and I want to thank everybody for that. And then for that support, but also just embrace that and like I’m proud you know i i we worked really hard as a team to create a good product, the good customer service that comes along with it, that people feel comfortable and trust us and do come back for more so in the fact that they are This speaks volume.

Bailey Bouwman  38:40

Love it. Yeah, it’s phenomenal. That’s absolutely amazing. I think we’ve learned so much today about your brand, like your product, your passion for sustainability. I even I mean your watch your team talks about passion as well as well as your products in your product development. I’m so excited for you and everything that’s happened with bumby this year it’s fantastic to see another brand growing in this industry and yeah, people can find you online and kind of wrap this up.