Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Rachel, the owner of Toronto Cloth Diaper. She believes that modern cloth diapering is AMAZING! And she wants the rest of the world to know. If you’re just into saving a few dollars or maybe saving the planet, whatever your reason for switching to cloth is, you’re sure to find the right products at Toronto Cloth Diaper!
Me: Why start a cloth diaper store?
Rachel: Once cloth diapering started, it was love at first diaper change! Who doesn’t love saving money, and helping the environment? Not to mention all the cute patterns and colours! Without even realizing it cloth diapers became a hot topic in my house. To the point that my husband had to turn to me and say “do we really have to talk about diapers all the time?” So the solution to my dilemma was pretty obvious. Start a cloth diaper store, and not just any store, a store that will be there for mama’s when they need support, guidance, advice, anything they might need to make their cloth diaper journey as easy and comfortable as possible.
Before starting to cloth diaper I noticed that there is sooooo much information out there about cloth diapering that the whole process seems intimidating and a bit more than effortless. I want to let you know that it’s not as scary as it seems, once you get started it becomes second nature! I want to be there to help you find the best diaper that will work for you and your family. Through my experience in testing and trying out all different kinds of diapers, I have come to gain a lot of knowledge to make YOUR journey easier.
Me: Tell me about the steps you took to get your shop off the ground?
Rachel: I have a love for cloth diapering and wish more people would use cloth diapers. I figured with my love of cloth diapering and background of online marketing I could build a wonderful store!
Me: How do you choose which products to carry?
Rachel: I chose to work with mainly Canadian companies because I love supporting Canadian businesses. I chose the specific brands based on their quality, how long they’ve been around, and the differences between them. I wanted to make sure we carried something for everyone. We chose Bambino Mio because they offer a hook and loop diaper, which none of my other brands really have, also because of their quality of course. (Note from Jenn: Toronto Cloth Diaper has free shipping in Canada on orders over $74. They also ship worldwide. Check with them for shipping costs.)
Rachel: The easy part was knowing about cloth diapering and loving it. The hard part has been to get the word out and let people know who we are. Also having a toddler who’s only in daycare part time makes everything harder. One of my main reasons for opening my store was wanting to do something I’m passionate about as well as being able to spend time with my daughter and being available for her.
Me: I think that’s a common hope for many moms who want to stay home with their children. You have to be creative to make it work. Are there any unique products or services you offer?
Rachel: I offer free one-on-one information sessions for anyone in the Greater Toronto Area. I will travel to wherever they are comfortable meeting and will sit and help them get started on their cloth diapering journey.
Me: That’s awesome! I WISH I’d had someone like that around me when I got started! Can you tell me a little about yourself?
Rachel: I’m not the most crunchiest person, but I do like playing my part in keeping our planet beautiful. We cloth diaper, use cloth wipes, recycle, we don’t use plastic bags, it’s a tough one because we aren’t hardcore, but we do try to do our part. Like I said we aren’t the most crunchiest people, we have a big car (kinda hard to avoid with a baby that comes with so much stuff), I love starbucks! I could live off coffee (mom fuel). If organic is on sale we’ll buy it. We mainly chose to cloth because it was budget friendly, we lean more towards the saving money aspect than the crunchy aspect of life.
Me: What about behind the scenes? Who does what?
Rachel: It’s my husband and I. He takes care of the online marketing, I deal with customers and product.
That’s their daughter, Daniella, hard at work!
Me: What are your plans for the future?
Rachel: My plan is simply to grow like any company and create more awareness about the benefits of cloth diapering.
And with that…Toronto Cloth Diaper wants to say thank you for checking them out by giving some stuff away!! One lucky reader gets a B ambino Mio miosolo all in one and matching wetbag! Winner can select the print! Head over to the All About Cloth Diapers Facebook page to enter now! GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.
I feel it so deeply with the snippet of the daughter part-time in daycare and wanting to nourish your passion as a woman, in your own right.
I put my daughter in part-time daycare (now the preschool room! Oh my Goonies!) because she needed that other tiny hand to hold, that eye to eye contact without one person having to scooch down.
But, I also put her in daycare because I NEEDED to be more than just Moma. I love being her Moma, I love mothering her and modeling that, but I also want to model other roles and zestful talents I have.
Writing is my passion as well as improv comedy and soon I hope to start stand-up! I’m hoping to get a blog called Survival of the Wittest (I lovelovelove puns) off the ground.
You did it! It gives me that nudge of inspiration!
PASSION!
Go get ‘me girl! I’m so empathetically pleased for you and your store!
Love,
Dev from Maine, admin of All About Cloth Diapers Chat, and hopefully a writer of more reviews (full of puns–I’m a groan adult)!
Lovely!
Before I started using cloth everything seemed SO imtimidating. Everyone in the community was really open and welcoming and gave lots of great advice. I love that Rachel gives free one on one sessions. That is amazingly generous and shows just how awesome the cloth diapering world is! ?