If you’ve been following the Baby Carriers Downunder blog, you may have noticed we don’t write a lot of posts along the lines of “OMG! I so love [insert brand here]“. In fact, we don’t have any posts that sing the praises of a particular brand. It’s not because we don’t want the sponsorship dollars, or because we are all hard-core DIY-only babywearers. It’s because Baby Carriers Downunder is independent. And to quote Stan Lee, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Which is far more relevant than my other favourite thing to tell my kids, “with pants comes dignity”.

Being independent means we can talk about the features that make a carrier fabulous or FAIL, or the ways to use and abuse a particular style of carrier. But because we don’t name brands, we have no financial incentive to promote one carrier over another, nor risk the wrath of a manufacturer for suggesting a variation on their instructions. And we can more easily get Baby Carriers Downunder working with other non-profit parent support organisations, because we’re here to promote ALL forms of babywearing that support healthy babies and parents/carers.

If you’ve been following my posts on this blog for a while, you might also have picked up that I work in the industry. And yet I cannot post about my own business here. So why do I spend time writing for Baby Carriers Downunder? Because every person that is helped along the way to successful babywearing is a good thing, regardless of where they get their gear. I’m an addict that wants to get more users hooked, and I don’t care what dealer they go to.

Babywearing needs to become mainstream, it needs to be normalised, if we are to have a viable long term industry. More importantly, babywearing needs to be normalised so that parents can more easily find and use a tool that makes their job easier. Nothing makes me happier than having someone tell me how much better their baby sleeps, or that they no longer wear baby chuck five times a day, or that they can now get out of the house with their baby, or simply that their back feels good now that they have a good sling and the skills to use it.

If we’re going to normalise babywearing, we need independent blogs and support groups. It’s not hard to tout your own brand all over the interwebz. But we have bigger things to consider here. Things like the concept behind babywearing, safety tips that apply to ALL carriers, and what makes a well-constructed carrier at home or in a commercial factory. People who want to discuss the many brands do so in our Google Group forum. But as bloggers, we realise that what we say carries a different level of credibility, and is rated differently by search engines. We want blog readers to take this material as a starting point in their search for the perfect sling for their needs - not just look up a list of the Top 5 Best Baby Carriers Ever and buy the one that’s in their price range.

So if your comment recommending a brand name carrier disappears from our blog, or we don’t bother publishing your media release about your new baby carrier product, please don’t be offended. We’re just enjoying our babywearing independence in a brand-free zone. And if you’re looking for the Top 5 Best Baby Carriers Ever, here’s the list in my personal order of preference (which will change tomorrow, as I feel about baby carriers the way most women feel about shoes):

• Mei Tai
• Short Wrap
• Soft Structured Carrier (SSC)
• Long Wrap
• Ring Sling

Oh look, useful information without brand names! See, it is possible Now go argue the crap out of my top 5 list…

If you’ve got an addiction to good quality baby carriers and slings (c’mon, I know I’m not the only one…) then you’ve probably bought from more than a few WAHMs in your time. WAHMs - work at home mums - are the backbone of the baby carrier and sling industry in Australia. They’re the ones who come up with innovations in design, source the to-die-for fabrics that make a regular carrier something special enough for a wedding or christening, and are sometimes willing to vary their design ever so slightly to make it fit you just right. So what does it take to be a WAHM, and why do women want to do it?

Being a WAHM isn’t going to make you a millionaire. In fact, you’ll be lucky to get more than a bit of occasional pocket money from it. But it can be very personally rewarding, more flexible than other forms of paid work, and a bit of extra pocket money will help pay for your own sling stash (or at least justify your fabric stash). To be a successful WAHM in the babywearing industry, you’ll need:

• Skills. If you can sew, then you can be a sling manufacturer. If you can do marketing and publicity but can’t sew, perhaps you’re better off as an importer or retailer rather than manufacturing.
• Time. Don’t kid yourself that you can run a successful WAHM business while the kids are napping or sleeping at night - unless you plan on never getting any sleep yourself. You need to find at least 2-3 blocks of time each week to sew, market your business, do the taxes and administrivia, and pack and post orders. That means setting aside times when someone else is supervising small children, kids are at school, or the kids are busy with their own activities and likely to not interrupt your work every 20 seconds with “muuuuuu-um”.
• Cash. You can start a business with just a few hundred dollars in cash, but you do need to carefully plan for how you’ll fund the start-up and growth of your venture. Don’t rely on credit cards to fund it - the interest rates are a killer. Look at using savings, mortgage redraw, or micro-loan credit schemes if there are any in your area (the ACT Government has recently started one).
• Willingness to prioritise. It is not humanly possible to be a perfect mother, partner, house cleaner, cook, and whatever other roles you fulfil. If you’re adding business owner to your list of roles, consider what you can give up to make time for the business. You may need to cook quicker, simpler dinners. Do less cleaning. Access childcare or babysitting, or let the kids watch more TV. Have less time with your partner after the kids go to bed at night. If you’re not willing to give up or change anything else in your life, then you need to seriously reconsider whether you have room in your life to be a WAHM. Even a hobby-level business is time-consuming, and a business that you intend to provide for your family adds an additional layer of stress if you’re stretching yourself too thin.

But there’s also a lot of rewards to being a babywearing WAHM:

• Being able to fit your work around your family’s needs. You can attend that school assembly at 10am, and catch up on the sewing or emails at 8pm if you’re willing to be flexible about your hours.
• Building a business that is yours, and being the chief decision-maker.
• Lower overheads than most businesses - no need to lease an office or factory, or buy expensive equipment, until your business outgrows the dining room table or spare room.
• Supporting a passion for babywearing, and spreading the babywearing love to other parents.

So are you a WAHM or considering it? What is it that you love about the WAHM lifestyle? What have you learned on your journey?

So I was reading baby industry news this morning (I own a baby shop) and noticed there’s a Melbourne baby shop who have started a sling library scheme. For postage cost, you can borrow a baby carrier for 10 days to see if it suits you before you pay lots of money to buy one. The news editor was quite rightly excited about this: many parents will be able to choose the most comfortable carrier for their needs if they can try on first. Bu there’s a catch…

When you’re looking at sling libraries, baby carrier hire schemes, or try-before-you-buy plans, first take note of the carriers you are being offered. Do they look like something you want to try? As a baby sling retailer, I have been offered all sorts of “good deals” on carriers that aren’t comfortable when carrying a heavy baby for hours at a time. Spending money on something you won’t use is never a good deal. Going along to a sling meet, or trying on a carrier at the shop, will allow you to find out if a suspect carrier is as uncomfortable as you thought it would be, without putting you in a position of having to pay postage or remember to return it on time.

Reading the fine print is also important. What happens if you’re late sending it back? Do you need to pay a large deposit? If the carrier is damaged while you’re borrowing it, can you afford to pay the repair fee?

If you’re already committed to using a sling or baby carrier, start by doing your research on styles and brands. Baby Carriers Downunder have a forum where you can read the opinions of other parents, or check the reviews at The Babywearer. The Selection Guide at Baby Carriers Downunder will explain the basic styles and their uses. There’s also a sling library as part of the Baby Carriers Downunder group, where you can try carriers if there’s no sling meets in your area to try them on - but with the added benefit of no profit to the Baby Carriers Downunder group for promoting one brand over another.

Once you’ve short-listed some carrier styles and brands that are worth trying, look for a sling meet in your local area. This is the best way to try on - no fees, no stress about borrowing carriers that get damaged in your care, no pressure from vendors to buy what you’ve tried. Plus you get the opinions of other parents at the same time.

If there’s no sling meets in your area, look for a baby shop that stocks the brands you’re interested in. Try on carriers at the shop, but make sure you go for a proper walk around the shop with your baby (not a lightweight doll) in the sling to see how it really feels. Talk to the shop staff about their returns policy - if you get it home and change your mind, can you exchange it for a different brand? Is there a guarantee or warranty on the carrier fading in the wash or breaking with normal use?

For people who have made up their mind that babywearing is a good choice, it’s not hard to justify spending money on a quality sling. You’ll use it far more than a pram, and prams are often much more expensive than a sling. But when money is in short supply, you do need to make careful choices. If you’re really worried about making the wrong choice, consider your fall-back plan. Can you sell this sling second-hand and put the money towards buying something else? Can you buy your preferred sling second-hand in the first place? When you’ve finished with this sling, can it be used for other purposes like a spare travel blanket or hammock? If you’ve got sewing skills, good quality fabrics always have potential for re-use. Is this a sling that can be used from babyhood through to pre-school years, or will you need to sell it and buy something else in six months or a year?

So how do I know this stuff? Because I’ve been there. I was committed to babywearing, but had no way of trying before buying. So I bought random stuff online. And let me tell you, I bought some total rubbish before I found the gems! When I started my own shop, I had a hire scheme. Which ended up being a try-before-you-buy scheme. Because nobody - not one single person - ever returned a carrier. And I realised that it wasn’t the hire offer that got them to choose that particular carrier. What they needed was to try on a few different styles at once, so they could compare the comfort. Going to a sling meet or a shop that allows customers to try on a range of brands will tell you if the brand you were considering is merely mediocre.

Buying a sling means making a choice from a huge variety of offerings from online and in-store retailers. Just be sure to start by trying out something that interests you, and be aware that a “good deal”you’re offered is only worth it if it’s a sling you actually want to use.

A number of pundits have recently declared that the Australian dollar is approaching parity with the U.S. and that we may reach those heady grounds by Christmas. What in the name of all that’s imported does that have to do with babywearing, I hear you ask?

Plenty, my friends.

You see, “parity” is a short-hand economist’s way of saying that one Australian dollar is equal to one U.S. dollar. As these things go, when one Australian dollar is worth more U.S. currency, it’ll be worth more Euros as well.

Can you see where I’m going with this? That’s right- your wraps and your SSCs, your ring slings and your mei tais; anything made overseas, or made from overseas goods has been getting cheaper. It’s going to get cheaper still, as long as the value of our dollar continues to climb.

To that end, I propose that the Babywearers of Australia (and New Zealand) unite! We must reach parity! The power to change our economy is in our own hands! But how?

That, too, is simple. One of the reasons why the Australian dollar is performing strongly in recent times is the anticipation (and reality) that the Reserve Bank will lift interest rates. Combine that with Australia’s strong economic performance compared with other developed nations and investing money here is now a better option compared to other places. So the money pours in, Aussie dollars are bought and the price of the dollar (our exchange rate) increases.

In order to reach parity, we must convince the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates further! Forget your mortgages, your credit cards and your car loans! Compared to baby carriers, they’re unimportant! The Reserve Bank’s objective is to achieve (amongst other things) low and stable inflation. If inflation gets too high, or it is believed that it will be too high in the future, the Reserve Bank will lift interest rates. This is our ultimate goal: high interest rates means a high exchange rate (usually). We must drive inflation! But how?

Inflation is driven by spending. The more the economy spends, the higher the rate of inflation. So there you have it- we must spend! We must buy carriers now so that we can buy cheaper carriers later! It’s a foolproof plan!

Go forth and spread the word, fellow downunder babywearers: it’s your national duty to buy as many babycarriers as you can!

Has our sudden turn towards parity changed your plans to buy or sell a carrier? Leave a comment and let us know!

I’ve had a lot of carriers go through my hands. I often refer to the beginnings of my retail business as “dealing to support my own addiction”. But I don’t think I’ve ever owned a purple sling. And yet, this is the colour that seems to sell best. What the? Certainly got me thinking about the reasons for popular colour choices.

My gorgeous boy in a purple carrier - not from my own stash!

With soft structured carriers, I’ve noticed that manly colours do well: olive greens, beige, blue. I’ve also noticed that light colours do better in summer than dark, and the reverse is true for winter. In doing demos, people often talk about choosing a colour their male partner will wear too, or dad is there helping pick it out. Possibly it helps that I point out the dirt-hiding benefits of those colours, and that fading is more noticeable on black carriers.

Stretchy wraps are another case of dad-friendly colours being popular. I’ve yet to see anyone choose a pink stretchy wrap. Beige, mid blue and green are the most popular colours. There may be some changing fashions here: three years ago, navy was my best seller, with maroon/burgundy/red the next best seller.

Mei tais often have the benefit of being reversible. So mum sometimes goes for a very girly print on the feature panel, and dad can just wear the reverse side if he feels threatened by florals. But still, pink and shimmery fabrics aren’t popular. People go for stripes or abstract prints. Perhaps looking for something that will suit their every mood or outfit, rather than multiple slings in case they’re not in a very girly mood some days. Mei tais are popular with dads too, so perhaps they’re worried that he won’t even cope with florals on the “other side” when he’s wearing it.

Ring slings are where personal preferences really come out. Most of my ring sling customers have been mums, and most don’t expect their partner to share their ring sling. Despite all my demos of how you can take the sleeping baby in sling off your own body, hang it over dad’s head when he walks in the door at 5pm, and walk away to have a long hot shower… Anyway, if it’s just for their own use, they choose whatever colourway they personally prefer. Still can’t get anyone to go for luxe shiny fabrics like silk. But florals, dragonflies, retro 70’s prints, and a bit of pink are all popular.

But no matter what style of carrier, purple is perennially popular. I’ve even watched my ex-demo carriers get a higher price on the second-hand market just because they’ve been dyed purple. Maybe because it’s a little feminine, but more dad-friendly than pink. Maybe for mums who would normally go for pink, but don’t want to carry a baby boy in a girly sling. Maybe because purple is good at hiding a multitude of spill sins (true… I dye my kids nappies purple to hide stains). Maybe because purple is said to be appealing to people in a transition phase of life, such as pregnancy. Whatever the reason, my green/blue/brown preference probably lowers the value of my stash on the second-hand market!

There’s nothing that gets an internet babywearing forum jiving like the prospect of a new silk wrap. Or a hemp wrap. Or a linen. Or a wool. Blended fibers are the wrap du jour!

We’ve talked before about how creating interest in a brand translates to clever marketing on the part of a wrap or carrier manufacturer. That’s certainly the case here, but there’s more to this than marketing. Blended fiber wraps are also about market positioning.

It’s a fact generally acknowledged that some blends are more supportive than others. It’s a fact little discussed, however, that the tag of “supportiveness” is a powerful marketing tool. Certain wrap brands are considered to be very supportive (this is an independent blog and we try not name names very often, but Hopp and Storchenwiege are two that come to mind). Didymos cotton wraps are not often considered as supportive as the previous two brands, however, their blended fiber wraps are often recommended on those terms. The introduction of blended fibers into the Didymos stable has resulted in a decisive change in attitude towards the brand. When asked to recommend a wrap on the basis of support, the answer now includes a recognition of the Didymos brand. This translates to more sales in a new (niche) corner of the (niche) wrap market.

Other wrap manufacturers, however, are following suit and weaving wraps with blends of silk, hemp and even bamboo. Some of these will be considered supportive, others will have qualities that will give them their own recognition. But by decisively leading the way on blended fibers, Didymos has the edge in the market.

Hold onto that trigger finger (and your credit card balance). There’s more fun coming our way!

How do you feel about blended fibers? Are they the wrap du jour for you? Or do you think they’re over-rated when compared to their cotton counterparts? Leave a comment, enquiring credit cards want to know!