Love and Diapers, by Kathy Huntebrinker
We can’t help it. We think about poop morning, noon and night. And being in the cloth diaper business, we don’t mind. Cloth diapering is more than a parenting choice for us. What started as a desire to cut down on waste and make environmentally conscious choices for our children has turned into a business and a lifestyle.
When I became pregnant with my first daughter, we made the decision that I would stay home. As I started to muddle through all of the choices new parents have to make, I was drawn to cloth diapering and was thrilled to find a local delivery service. I loved the idea of putting natural fibers next to my baby’s buns while someone else did the dirty work.
It wasn’t long before we realized that we were witnessing a real opportunity. The more I used cloth diapers, the more committed I was to educating others about the ease of use and the terrific feeling that came from making a natural choice for my family. We enthusiastically told our friends, neighbors and anyone who would listen about the virtues of cloth and soon, we put our money where our mouths were, and acquired Simply Clean Diaper Service in 2006.
These past eight years have shown us tremendous growth and an astounding amount of poop. In the beginning, we used a linen service to wash our diapers but as we grew, we had the opportunity to make some changes. We knew we could offer a better overall cloth diaper product and customized service if we began to wash the diapers ourselves. In 2011, we began washing our own diapers in our Maryland Heights facility. We have a first-rate, custom washing and drying center with a staff that is as dedicated to keeping your baby’s buns clean as we are.
Since we started Simply Clean we have helped over 1,200 local families cover with cloth and prevented over 1.6 million diapers and wipes from entering landfills. Each of our three children, Caitlyn, Norah and Ryan, have been diapered in cloth and have potty-trained at an earlier than normal age. This is a real family-run enterprise with my husband’s father in charge of deliveries and our moms jumping in for to juggle childcare while we juggle dirty diapers. Being a team in life and work makes this ride more fulfilling, albeit ickier, than we could have ever imagined.
Recently, we decided that my husband Mark would quit his day job to further pursue cloth and linen on a full time basis and it has been an incredible ride so far. Last year, we expanded our business to include Green Clean Linen which provides green washing options for small and medium-sized businesses. But our real passion is in cloth. Whether a family uses our service or not, our goal is to put as many baby buns in cotton as possible as we continue to educate the world about all of the modern cloth diaper options. After all, we care about your baby and we strive to offer St. Louis consistent, affordable and reliable cloth diaper service.