Bubblebubs have a new product. The Cloth Nappy Box has all the nappies you need from birth to toilet training. The box was 1 year in the making. Vashti and Andrew discuss the choices during the development of the product and who is the best person to give it to.
Transcription: The Cloth Nappy Box
#84 The Cloth Nappy Box
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Andrew: [00:00:00] Hey Vashti
Vashti: Hay Andrew how are you
Andrew: I'm doing fine
Vashti: you're doing good Yeah I'm good I'm good Kids are driving me nuts but you know that's kids
Andrew: It's not school holidays though
Vashti: No no no But you know the uh the 15 year old's already started looking at uni and we've had uni open days oh wow
Andrew: How many of those have you been to
Vashti: Uh just one so far just one but
Andrew: She like that one or you gonna have to go to more
Vashti: No I think she's pretty keen on one It's nice and close to home so we get extra points for being within a certain locality which means more chance of her getting in not that I'm worried about her getting in great grades
Andrew: Isn't isn't that two buses in the train though
Vashti: Oh that's for TAFE for TAFE
I'm trying to [00:01:00] talk her outta that one She wants to do TAFE at school next year And yeah no let's let's let's hold back on
Andrew: that That's funny I was looking at unis recently Cause I was looking into doing an animation course It's three years full time or six years part-time it I don't have that much spare time no
Vashti: it's funny cuz I've been sort of you know looking at things I can go back and study and stuff like that And I I'm caught a sort of on the the verge of taking the plunge but then I also sit there and go look know I've got three kids and a business and you know volunteer at school and with the ANA and I just I got too much on my plate I like I Can't add in a study as well I don't know We'll see I'm still it's still in the back of my head
Andrew: well you already have a kid going there so you could go together
Vashti: that's not for another three and a half years
Andrew: well you might be
ready to do it by then
Vashti: uh joy See this is what [00:02:00] you your moms and dads and and and parents have to look forward to um
Andrew: That's yeah this cuz this is the completely wrong mark to talk to about um universities Cause
Vashti: like
they've got
Andrew: got babies They
years
Vashti: they need to think about this
Andrew: but I I could give a tip though Start saving now
Vashti: Yeah Yeah Um just like you know just little things like the laptop for my my grade nine for school next year Um you know my eldest who's in grade 11 now Um they had a school laptop system so I just paid An amount each year or each term um cuz they broke it down that way and it was all included in my school fees because the school supplied the laptop For my daughter going into grade 10 next year going into the laptop scheme we can do that but it's a really cruddy laptop or we can bring your own And they're now including Mac's we're a Mac family So um she's getting a Mac for [00:03:00] which isn't cheap
Andrew: no we're a Mac business
Vashti: Yeah Oh I'm a Mac business So
Andrew: That the computer that's used to pack orders is six years It doesn't have a problem
Vashti: Well my old laptop was 10 years old and it was actually still working fine There's just a loose wire between the board the screen So if I I took it into apple and they said well we can't actually fix MacBook is obsolete now
Andrew: yeah that happens I think six
Vashti: Yeah So Yeah But I can take it into the Mac doctor who is or you know any other third party repairer and they'll fix it No dramas for me And then it'll be a perfectly fine laptop
Andrew: well that's yeah That's Arabelle's laptop needed a Some of the keys and the keyboard stopped working So I took it in and it's like four years old I took it in and they said do you wanna do the battery at the same time I said yeah good idea Let's do the battery at the same time Cause the battery's four years
Vashti: [00:04:00] old Yeah
Andrew: So I was gonna pay for the battery so I went to pick it up and they said oh yeah we had to replace the screen as well and I said oh why He says oh when we put it back together again the camera didn't
Vashti: no
Andrew: worries So we had to put a new screen on it So I've got a new screen New keyboard a new battery And when they rang me up to tell me that it was ready they said you you and Vicky can both come and pick it up And it was like you know months after And I burst into tears on the
Vashti: phone
Andrew: Then they gave it to me for free it's like wow So you know yeah And she's still using it now It's fantastic Well it's been over a year since it's been fixed so And
Vashti: Apple's pretty good You like you do pay in the beginning but I think in the long run it's it's a much better
Andrew: Yeah Everybody calls it the apple tax But I'm fine with the apple Because I've heard so many things fixed Yeah For ridiculous amounts [00:05:00] And if you've got the three you warranty yeah
Vashti: You don't have to do anything
Andrew: Yeah Well that iPad in front of you I dropped that on the warehouse floor Oh ouch Like you know juggling juggling Oh no Missed it Slap face down landed on the warehouse floor And I looked at it before I picked it up and went yeah no So I picked it up and yep Whole screen shattered So I made an appoint Good that afternoon And uh Anne got a new one Oh
Vashti: nice three year warranty Three year
Andrew: So they just give you a new one Yeah I think the I think the swap over fee is like 60 bucks or something yeah it's nothing
Vashti: that no for
Andrew: 60 bucks just covers their freight know who cares So
Vashti: so but these people aren't here to talk about apples This is not a tech podcast I
Andrew: have to do
Vashti: I do
Andrew: podcast
Vashti: You do
Andrew: So um what are we talking about today
Vashti: Well I thought I might have a chat to you about the cloth nappy box that Bubblebubs is
Andrew: Oh Hey brand new
Vashti: [00:06:00] Yeah Well So new
Andrew: well we doing a podcast We did hint about it on a podcast that But um yeah now it's here
Vashti: We're loving it at nest It's absolutely amazing So it's it's actually starting to get to the point where it's hard to keep it on the shelf I coming out a few times to get new ones from you
Andrew: Yeah Well actually lucky I'd already already have one made up Take one
Vashti: Well I have to it's like it's such a great little product So it what's in the cloth snappy Well what is the cloth snappy box Andrew
Andrew: The idea of the cloth nappy box is like all of our worthy competition are putting their nappies into shops but they're just putting 'em in one at a time So you know custom buys a couple and it pretty works really well from a marketing point of view because they buy a couple in a baby shop and then they go to their website They buy the rest both know that's what's happening but I wanted a product that Wouldn't go into the normal type of shop Like you know [00:07:00] we we're obviously when in Nest nappies Bubblebubs are in a lot of shops and a lot of online shops but I wanted to be in shops that I'm that we've never been in And that's baby shops so people go into the baby shop they buy their cot they buy their table their pram and their buy a box nappies that has all of the nappies that they're ever gonna need The only thing that it doesn't have is obviously a night nappy and because we don't know what night nappy they're gonna need There's there's no point putting a night nappy in
Vashti: well most families don't look at night nappies until about three to four months
Andrew: That's right So yeah we've got a little thing on the website to what to do when you do need Night nappy So yeah that's covered So in the boxes all the nappies you need So we put in 24 Bambam's
Vashti: Oh I love my Bambam's Anyone who's listened to the podcast knows I love my Bambam's We love them so much at nest We've got the bigs as well is a Bambam grown up
Andrew: Six covers
Vashti: Yeah
Andrew: four Snappes Is that how you say plural Snappy Snappy Snappy
[00:08:00] And 18 candies all different colors we're also putting some you know some time saving stuff There's wet bags in there and stuff like that but you know like the wet bags and everything like that will vary depending on what's available at the time but at the moment as I talk now it's got change mat double pocket wet bag a mini wet bag and a extra large wet bag that hangs on the doorknob
Vashti: Ausom So that's like if you're full time cloth napping at home Well you know just during the day that's honestly that's everything you need Like 24 Bambam's I know we say three days so that's like your bare minimum but lots of families will throw in a few disposables here and there or you know you could start using your candies a little bit earlier as well Couldn't you of course Yeah
So they go down to four kilos
Andrew: Yeah Soon as I hit four KG Yeah Three and a half to four kilos it depends it depends on the shape of the baby four kilo kilos You you definitely know it's gonna fit[00:09:00] and yeah so it it just takes the guesswork and you know and there's lots and lots out there Every Man and his dog is trying to sell cloth nappies now it's it's um quite a quite a saturated market
Vashti: It is very much like it's it's so good to see cloth going as mainstream as as we've been pushing for so many years now you know like there's more and more councils coming on board with cloth nappy rebate programs and things like that So Brisbane Brisbane council there We won't talk about that So I just had to update our council blog post page yesterday cuz another three councils had come on board around Australia and they're running workshops and giving rebates and it's just
Andrew: all the things that Brisbane was gonna do
Vashti: Yeah That Theyre not that's okay We won't talk about that one
Andrew: Well we could we could stop paying our rates But kick us out of our house that's as a protest you know
Vashti: cause apparently we buy the land but we just rent it from the council no [00:10:00] your rates are for all yours purposeless leaky garbage and your
your sewage
Andrew: it's for my road That they built 40 years ago And haven't haven't, touched this
Vashti: So who do you think will be buying the cloth nappy box then
Andrew: It's pretty much just gonna people who want to use cloth but don't wanna get caught up in all the all the stuff that's out there and as far as the nappies goes like the Bambam It's obviously one awards and it's also gets excellent reviews on product review Yeah Same with the candy You go to product review You can see like the last time I looked at the candy it was 4.7
Vashti: That's pretty awesome
Andrew: ahead of everybody else
Vashti: That's outta five
Andrew: out of five Yeah Not outta 50 outta
Vashti: No
Andrew: Just the and you know baby shows my gosh this is a good present You get four people together $250 each you've got All the nappies you need
Vashti: awesome Yeah Well even like you know if everyone cause I mean the average cost of a gift if it's a close friend yeah You'll you'll go up [00:11:00] to about a hundred $150 but a casual friend you might put in $50 like, that So it's
Andrew: just need 20 friends
Vashti: Yeah Well that's I mean could be a great workplace gift true Everyone from workplace throws in $50 and you get all the nappies you What's what's the retail value
Andrew: $999
Vashti: but what's the value of the
Andrew: With the current wet bags that are in there it adds up to over $1,400 at the moment
Vashti: That's a big saving
Andrew: That was your advice
Vashti: Yeah
uh I like to help with these things
Andrew: Obviously took a lot of advice Yeah As as we went the I think the biggest thing was Putting the nappies in was easy It was designing the box Yeah Because the box has everything you need on it to sell itself It sells itself So all retailers all I have to do is they don't have to learn about cloth nappies because that was that's the biggest barrier they don't wanna have to know about cloth nappies Because it's a [00:12:00] huge subject they just wanted a product that they can sit on the shelf And customers look at the box they all the information's on the box There's even QR codes to take 'em to videos Awesome On uh different parts of the box And you know I've also noticed there's some YouTube reviews of the box on up or online already too which is pretty good and that's it sit it in the box and the customer's got everything they need on the box And the thing with the box too is the box trick with the box is we didn't we don't wanna spend a lot of money on the box
Vashti: Isn't it Cause like you see packaging like everyone just throws the packaging out
Andrew: it But so at the other end of the scale it's it's what sells the product So you know we could have gone with a glossy high value box and and make it look really good but we didn't we went with a A box that's easier recyclable doesn't have anything on there that just can't go into the recycle bin That's awesome or you know you could keep it and you know well
Vashti: your kids can play it I know that my cats love playing in boxes or my cat I only have one cat Now She you know every time [00:13:00] I bring a box home doesn't what sort of box it is She's in it shoebox she'll open a shoe box and climb inside it You know like she's just she's a box paint Like, and my kids their favorite book was my cat likes to hide in boxes So every time she goes playing in a box they're like My cat likes to hide in boxes
Andrew: well you know that the Calex The little the Calex are basically cupboards with little squares back in the days when we had him in the lounge The uh cats would actually go in there we always always used to say oh look the cats put itself away
Vashti: Yeah the cat Calex
Andrew: the cat the cow
Yeah
Vashti: Whereabouts like how how do people buy
Andrew: Well we do have a website we built a website for it Um I was reluctant to build a website because I wanted to just have it in baby shops But you know the the thing came up well where the videos gonna be hosted And I thought no well yeah Okay We need to have a website So we we created a website for it It's called the cloth Cloth Nappy Box dot com dot au [00:14:00] you can order it through the website or you can just go to your local retailer and pick one up It's the same price no matter where you go
Vashti: Yep Awesome And so are you paying postage If you buy it through the website
Andrew: if you buy it through the website you're not paying postage because you know bubblebubs has a thing about you know spend more than 200 you get free postage So obviously yeah no postage is included so nice.
Vashti: Yeah
Andrew: It doesn't matter whether you go to a shop buy it or or get it off the website
Vashti: And so the website is clothnappybox.com.au is there a link on the Bubblebubs.com.au website
Andrew: I don't think there is at the moment The nappy leaks sorry not the like nappy leaks website The the cloth nappy box website does link back to Bubblebubs because it obviously says manufactured by Bubblebubs we obviously wanted the people to know the quality of the products that are in there So we did put Bubblebubs on the cloth nappy box website and it links back to to Bubblebubs but Bubblebubs doesn't currently link to that but we actually put the product on the Bubblebubs website as well Oh there you go go funny that [00:15:00] Bubblebubs website has sold more of the box than the Cloth Nappy Box something about the amount of traffic traffic that's there I don't know Ah yeah
something
Vashti: it's always the way so oh that's awesome Do you get to pick the print or colors Like can you choose 18 different prints in the box
Andrew: No set up in such a way that it's to take all Barriers away and choosing the nappies is one of the biggest barriers like you know at baby shows when I'm at baby shows I say yeah you want 15 nappies Just choose your prints And it takes a half an hour from to choose the prints
Vashti: easily not more
Andrew: so it's just like no grab the box we we did do another product on the Bubblebubs website We did a budget cloth nappy pack which is basically you choose the prints And it's but it's exactly the same as the cloth nappy box Uh except that it doesn't come with a box We don't want have ship graphic a huge box I actually had to get special boxes made to ship this thing [00:16:00] it's um It's it's it's you know you've you've experienced shipping and
Vashti: Yes I have it's Yes my local post office when I walk in with one of those to ship they're like what that's it's not a small box but you know like it's one of those things it's like when you do go to the you know baby bunting or your local baby store Um you are taking big boxes home so you you're caught and your pram and your change table They're all big pieces of of furniture
Andrew: True And we did take that into account when we designed the box because on the top of the box is a handle So you can just grab it by the handle and walk out with it like um as a long briefcase Oh nice it's really easy to get around cuz you know when I'm driving it around to show baby shops it's just I can carry two of them shop You And
Vashti: do you get a choice between pul and Minky or are they
mixed
Andrew: You do well That was your suggestion PUL and Mickey I wasn't gonna do it I did like the the thing is still there about doing a mix [00:17:00] box but I'm still not you know a hundred percent about doing a mix box and quite frankly we've actually sold more PUL one Yeah Then we we've done Minky which is like like the one you did yesterday was Minky But all all the previous ones you've done have been
Vashti: mainly Yeah We mainly do the the pul just something about pul but I mean like personally I'm I'm a Minky fan I love that soft silkiness of Minky Yeah
Andrew: Yeah me too I was on the website the other day looking at it and noticed that the default choice is PUL And I thought oh I'm gonna change that See if that
the let's see if that catches up
You know it's like
Vashti: so we have plenty of our families who will buy a mix of pul and Minky So um it's definitely it's it's not an all or nothing thing I don't think lots of families like to have a bit of a choice
Andrew: Yeah True Yeah Yeah Well I do notice like you know the candy trial pack that we have I do notice a lot of people who order that will order one Minky and [00:18:00] PUL PUL basically So they can choose And you know then I go back later and find out oh yeah they've just sorted on which one they like Because because they're very next order is all one or the other
Vashti: So I know that when we went to Kenan Ugan a few years back or pre COVID when you got to travel
we're starting to get to travel a bit more at the moment but yeah there was a big thing in Germany where Minky was not liked I think we talked about it in
Andrew: a so I was surprised cause Vicky told me when came back
Vashti: was like there was there was just something they just did not like Minky Everyone was all about the pul And yeah we get asked a lot in the shop if Minki hotter than pul because it's like fluffy but it's not it's it's fine I've had Minky in Darwin in the buildup and you know in central Victoria in the middle of summer Where you get like close to 50 degrees up down in central Victoria and summer but it's a different heat It's very dry down there Whereas [00:19:00] Darwin you know you get up to high thirties sometimes crack 40 but it's a very humid oppressive heat up there So they're they're two completely different locations and I've Done cloth nappies in both of them and notice absolutely no difference with my kids just the Mickey is so strokable I know that sounds weird Stroking your baby's bum but you know like Mickey's soft
Andrew: cat cats Love it too
Vashti: they do
Andrew: We're in a like our international sales Now we've joined a company called fair the orders that are going over to Europe They're only ordering PUL Oh there you go go So I've started throwing in a free Minky
Vashti: Yep
Andrew: doesn't switch 'em
Vashti: no
Andrew: they just keep ordering PUL
Vashti: Yeah and that's the thing I I really do think that in those European countries they're very much pul based So um it's
Andrew: maybe cuz it's more closer to the what the outside of a disposable nappy is [00:20:00] Maybe they just think it's it's more
Vashti: Dunno dunno But I do get queries about whether or not Minky or how is Minky waterproof And it's like it's just like the way the pul is made is they get a layer of fabric and a layer of laminate and they stick them together Whether it be chemically bonded or thermally bonded and it's just the layer of fabric is just it's like your t-shirt versus your sweatshirt so they cut the fabric at a different length and that's all it is
yeah And so oh well no I reckon the the cloth nappy box Well I I already know the cloth nappy box is awesome because we've had it at nest for ages and we love it
Andrew: Yes You were the first retailer to
take it on Yeah Surprise surprise
Vashti: It's just like honestly and lots of our families have said how how much stress it takes away from them in the choosing it's like they already know that they're gonna love their Bambam' like after coming in and [00:21:00] chatting to and they want something easy and simple And when they look at it like under thousand dollars for all of your cost nappies from birth to toilet training Is a great price
It's a rainbow of colors Who doesn't like a rainbow colors Ah
Everybody loves
Andrew: I think the idea of the rainbow of colors came from that lady who did that TikTok video where she throws a nappy at the it's magically on his bum
Vashti: Yep
Andrew: Before we launched the cloth nappy box I gave her all of the one all of the colors that were coming in the cloth nappy box and said do some videos with this Yeah So there's there's videos of of of her just doing it with the colors that are come in The Cloth Nappy Box
Vashti: awesome Oh well there you go Okay Well there you go If you're looking for something to buy for a baby shower gift like somebody wants to do a group baby shower gift I think the cloth nappy box Check out clothnappybox.com.au for your local retailer I[00:22:00]
Andrew: It's called the cloth nappy box but currently the website is cloth nappy box Dot com AU Thank you Vashti
Vashti: thanks Andrew
Andrew: By Everybody