Ab/Dl Businesses

[Horndog]

I was talking to a fellow AB/DL the other day about businesses that cater to AB/DLs beside diaper manufacturing -- and what the profitability would be like.

Here are some ideas I rattled off...

ABWarehouse

Concept: Online Costco/Sam's Club meets Baby 'R Us for adults

• Members pay a one-time annual fee (i.e. $50 USD) prior to joining

• Inventory would consist of an aggregation of AB/DL products at discounted prices (10-25% off)

• There would be monthly featured items with discounts

• Inventory would also include discounted memberships to paid-premium AB/DL sites

• Members can set up their own online storefronts, and sell their goods here

Would something like this work? Do you have any suggestions that could help create a successful AB/DL-based business?

[DailyDi]

Cool idea

[babymikeblue]

sounds like a good idea

[Pm88]

I like the idea but there aren't enough of us to make it worth while. For the company.

[Eir]

I like the idea but there aren't enough of us to make it worth while. For the company.

You are forgetting that a web based business would be international.

[AB_Adam]

Not a bad idea at all.

[kootzkoo]

That is a good idea! If done right, this can be very profitable for you!.

I don't know how the ABDL sites work but if I owned one and you were going to offer a discount, i'd either want you to pay for the discount or.. if you can get me x amount of subscribers per month I would allow an amount of discount for each x amount of new subscribers (and so much for renewal)..(and i'd give you a certain amount of money for every subscriber that i received from them getting to my site from your site)

I don't know if you could pay for the discount with such a low yearly fee (which you should keep low)

but you should definitely arrange something with the pay-sites, that would be a really great model.

I am a business student, I have excelled really well in all areas of business in my studies, I am currently working to complete my masters in business. (MBA)

if you want to talk about this in PM, feel free to message me.

[Horndog]

I would need investors to work with me if I'm the one spearheading a business plan, but this is purely speculation.

I've studied the AB/DL business market for a while. I know it can be profitable, depending on how you do it. Here are some notes I've compiled over the years, examining business models:

• Many AB/DL people want cheap products. They appreciate the design diapers, for instance, but not the price. People appreciate the quality brands like Dry 24/7, but it lacks the "baby" look and the price is considered expensive (XPMedical lists those diapers at $31.95 for a package of 18, which comes to about $1.77 per diaper). Similarly, for a 20-pack of ABU Cushies, it comes to $27.54 ($1.37 per diaper, but less wet capacity compared to Dry 24/7). People seem to define "cheap" as mid-level quality like Attends (cheapest for Extended Wear comes to $23.69 for 18/pack, which is $1.31 per diaper). How can we reduce the overall cost to $1.25-$1.30, and make a profit?

• An annual membership fee would make up for the reduced cost. Providing only inventory in bulk reduces the price naturally. But what about providing samples?

• Costco/Sam's Club offers a variety of free samples at their physical locations. AB/DLs react very positively to free samples, but free samples need to be monitored to prevent abuse of the system. Also, another obstacle to overcome is the S&H for free samples. How could we compensate for that S&H loss?

• There is no one definitive place for AB/DL clothing. Many people ask for recommendations, but suggestions are mixed. There is no place that all people go to. To eliminate overhead manufacturing costs, the company ("the aggregate") would provide inventory from independent suppliers working with the company. Profits could go toward opening warehouses for on-demand manufacturing if the demand is good enough, however AB/DL is still a niche audience

• There are several paid sites geared toward AB/DL. Would these sites accept discounted monthly rates in exchange for exposure on a reputable, AB/DL business? How can we work with these businesses? What laws would we need to consider when dealing with adult pay sites? All members of business must be 18+ as stated in the Terms and Conditions? Sounds reasonable

Bottom-line: AB/DLs want to buy cheap in one place. In this economy, coming up with a way to turn an ordinarily expensive lifestyle into something workable would do wonders for the community.

EDIT: The low fee would be important. $50 is something that I consider to be acceptable. Anything less would not cover discounts that the business would absorb -- and to pay that on an annual basis is less hassle. Have $50 as the fee, and treat purchases in the store as microtransactions.

EDIT 2: How about contests? Members who buy into the site could enter into sweepstakes. Just a thought.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

How about keeping it simple and just doing honest business with honest pricing instead of "Well you gotta be in the club" and all of that manipulation. Ditto rebates and other complicated junk busienss. That is sooooooo squirelly and manipulative. It makes me feel like I've fallen down a rabbit hole

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

There is no such thing as enough rubber panties, tiaras, babydolls, dresses or dollies

[Diapered Jason]

Members pay a one-time annual fee (i.e. $50 USD) prior to joining

I do not know if this is a good idea. Online stores are so mercurial. For example, you never now what the quality of the merchandise or how expedient the delivery is until you order something. Even then, the next delivery can have a completely different outcome. Whereas when I go to Costco, I know what I am getting and I find that membership fee worthwhile. Remember, when you go to Costco, you are also buying many things in bulk and that also creates some savings per item, but you are spending more since you are buying more. Still, it is worth it if you need to buy in bulk, but you need to shop there often enough, otherwise you will not offset your membership fee by your savings.. That's the whole idea behind Costco, buy more to save money per item. You could do that on an online business. Sell plastic pants in bulk for example. I am guessing the membership fee would significantly bring down your competitiveness if you cannot prove your worth. Trial memberships may be a way of assuaging this.

[abrichiebc]

Have you ever thought of fetish bazaars or fairs?. Set up a booth for shits and giggles and see what kind of response you get.

[Horndog]

Got a few PMs about this so far. Just want to remind people that these are only ideas -- just food for thought.

I run a small business already, which is public relations and media-based. Jumping into another business takes an extraordinary amount of committment, and you have to promote it publicly. For privacy reasons, the latter part is what gets me, but I like to put the ideas out there -- and see what springs forth from them. Lots of good feedback already.

Just wanted to say that trial membership would definitely be part of the mix. Why not?

[belinda_sue_fox]

Really you have a business...and you think taking 10-25% off small businesses in a small niche market is going to float???

[Horndog]

Nope. Let me give you an example of what I was thinking of... and again, I must emphasize these are just ideas and nothing is set in stone.

Amazon.com Marketplace allows small business to set their own prices, and compete with Amazon.com's own prices. If I'm not mistaken, Amazon charges a selling fee for vendors. The benefit of said selling fee is having exposure on a site that generates major traffic. That's not the same as taking 10-25% off small businesses. Generally speaking, discounts would be applied to products by major companies. If a small business wanted to, they could set their own pricing and special promotions.

[universitybaby23]

While I respect your ideas and business models, I personally think the idea of people paying a 50 dollar annual fee is completly unrealistic and that requirement would have your business and investment in the deeeep red. The idea of a fee and the, "you scratch our back, we will scrath your back " attitude( free samples,disocunts,etc. for customers) is an ambitious goal but in reality there are simply not enough AB/DL customers who order on a conistent basis that could reap these benefits. First time visitors would most likely think to themselves," Why order this pack of Abenas for an extra 50 dollars when I can get them at XPmedical or even ABU at regular price.I think it would be smarter to attract first time buyers and keep them coming back with fast discrete shipping/strong customer srvice.In my opinion the storngest tool in the AB/DL economy revolves around marketing unique products and great advertisement especially through sites like DD and ADISC.I think my point is made clearly, and I'm sorry if I sound like a debby downer. I enjoy desigining business plans and will try and come up with some alternative ideas for cutting back costs and starting a business that could compete and survive in this limiting economy.

[universitybaby23]

Also, I do not feel like indepent companies would feel inclined to offer discounts to a company with no previous success. The idea of tirial memberships theoretically could solve this dilema allowing the company time to establish a strong clientele base, but this would involve quite a bit of undetermined capital, along with time to establih legitamte credability with these partner companies. Thinking about the ABDL market in dpeth has really given me respect for the entrepenaurs of Bambino and ABU. Unfortunatly their unique adult baby diaper approach seems like the least risky dive into this market aside from a true incontinence based website. I think one would have to be extremly wealthy to make an alternative approach ( fee based or any other) actually generate profit in this business.

[Horndog]

While I respect your ideas and business models, I personally think the idea of people paying a 50 dollar annual fee is completly unrealistic and that requirement would have your business and investment in the deeeep red. The idea of a fee and the, "you scratch our back, we will scrath your back " attitude( free samples,disocunts,etc. for customers) is an ambitious goal but in reality there are simply not enough AB/DL customers who order on a conistent basis that could reap these benefits. First time visitors would most likely think to themselves," Why order this pack of Abenas for an extra 50 dollars when I can get them at XPmedical or even ABU at regular price.I think it would be smarter to attract first time buyers and keep them coming back with fast discrete shipping/strong customer srvice.In my opinion the storngest tool in the AB/DL economy revolves around marketing unique products and great advertisement especially through sites like DD and ADISC.I think my point is made clearly, and I'm sorry if I sound like a debby downer. I enjoy desigining business plans and will try and come up with some alternative ideas for cutting back costs and starting a business that could compete and survive in this limiting economy.

I'm going to have to disagree with quite a bit of that.

Someone previously suggested having trial memberships, which would mitigate the sudden $50 annual fee -- but even that can be changed. $50 was something that I suggested, but wasn't like, "Yes, we must do that price. Absolutely no compromise!" However, in theory, having some sort of up-front cost would allow people to reap the benefits from discounts. Only some of those proceeds would go toward site/server maintenance costs and revenue. Most of that fee would take a bite out of the suggested retail price. In the meantime, people can have trial memberships, or maybe even tiered membership/payment plans. Who knows?

You misunderstood the model. It's not, "Why order a pack of Abenas for an extra 50 dollars when I can get them at XPmedical or even ABU at regular price?" It's the fact that for one flat annual fee, customers would have access to bulk products at wholesale prices. You don't pay, say, $50 in order to buy one pack of Abenas. You pay for a year worth of savings on everything that isn't independently sold by an affiliated vendor. Then with special promotions and free samples, that makes the investment in bulk a lot more gratifying because it's an informed decision, and it gives the customer pride that they made a bulk purchase for the lowest online cost.

I believe there are AB/DL customers who do order on a consistent basis (the demand for premium AB/DL merchandise is quite high, according to Bambino and ABUniverse sales trends). The question should be: how many customers would order on a consistent basis? Second question is: how do you have consistent business with repeat customers? These are all objectives, or obstacles to overcome -- depending on how you look at it. Consistency comes from discreet shipping and good customer service, but you need more than that. You need the business to provide quality at a good price, and you need to be a resource that has the essential AB/DL supplies. Selling only commercial and customized "baby" diapers doesn't cut it. Selling on AB/DL clothing doesn't cut it. You have to have everything an AB/DL would want in order to have the best experience.

My two cents. Now I'll shut up

EDIT: Yes, the ideas I'm proposing would require an investment of capital. We would need investors.

[Dirty Diaper/Maxipad Lover]

Horndog, let me preface this by saying that I absolutely love your idea.

I would need investors to work with me if I'm the one spearheading a business plan, but this is purely speculation.

This is largely the reason why I'm not actively looking into the production of poly/plastic backed baby diaper manufacturing just yet. (Not AB diaper--BABY DIAPER--as in the type of things sold under brands with names like Huggies and Luvs.) Part of the reason that I am currently reselling such a product here on DD though is to "test the waters" to see if such a business would be profitable in the first place. If I'm going to have to ask investors for money, I fully expect them to ask me why they should invest in my business idea. Being able to say that I've sold a certain number of units of a comparable product, and being able to show demand for such a product will work in my favor with investors. Unlike diaper manufacturing, the *obstacle* that I can see with the AB/DL warehouse store idea is that investors can't look at the success of the competition, because this is a completely new concept.

I've studied the AB/DL business market for a while. I know it can be profitable, depending on how you do it. Here are some notes I've compiled over the years, examining business models:

• Many AB/DL people want cheap products. They appreciate the design diapers, for instance, but not the price. People appreciate the quality brands like Dry 24/7, but it lacks the "baby" look and the price is considered expensive (XPMedical lists those diapers at $31.95 for a package of 18, which comes to about $1.77 per diaper). Similarly, for a 20-pack of ABU Cushies, it comes to $27.54 ($1.37 per diaper, but less wet capacity compared to Dry 24/7). People seem to define "cheap" as mid-level quality like Attends (cheapest for Extended Wear comes to $23.69 for 18/pack, which is $1.31 per diaper). How can we reduce the overall cost to $1.25-$1.30, and make a profit?

• An annual membership fee would make up for the reduced cost. Providing only inventory in bulk reduces the price naturally. But what about providing samples?

• Costco/Sam's Club offers a variety of free samples at their physical locations. AB/DLs react very positively to free samples, but free samples need to be monitored to prevent abuse of the system. Also, another obstacle to overcome is the S&H for free samples. How could we compensate for that S&H loss?

To respond to your first point, the short answer is that you probably can't. At least not without innovators who create an entirely new technology for diaper manufacturing. The style and quality of diapers that AB/DLs want are what drive up their costs. Poly/plastic backing is expensive--it can't be compressed so it takes up more space in packaging, which takes up more space on truck, which takes up more fuel, which leads to increased prices across the board. "Thick" diapers are "thick" because they aren't compressed. Options here are limited to ideas like replacing poly/plastic backing with a "green" alternative that feels the same but offers some sort of incentive for its use, or finding a way to fuel trucks without having to pay for fossil fuels--again something that would offer a financial incentive. The problem is the use of petroleum-based products and a lack of cheap alternatives. One option is a loss-leader strategy, but I personally don't like loss leader strategies. This kind of gets into the idea of samples as well.

As for samples, they're a smart idea, but you pretty much mentioned their most significant problems above. One way to handle samples would be to offer them at specific times--such as when a member joins--and to allow them to pick a certain number of sample products that they may request. Joining the site could get a member one sample products, while remaining a member could get people a sample product for each year that they stay a member for the first ten years. Additional samples could be calculated based on the amount of money spent in the store each year. Shipping and handling for samples could be offset by the membership fee. As with diapers, another option would be a loss leader strategy, but I've already stated why I don't like the idea. It's probably better for samples then it is for diapers though, because the purpose of samples is to get people to buy the product being sampled. Products being offered as samples should be things that will sell as impulse buys--they need to be items that people will want to keep purchasing. Offering cloth diapers would be a bad idea, but offering disposable ones, or wipes, or powder would be a good idea--those three items are things that people will buy regularly.

[Bettypooh]

The idea sounds nice but the real key here is your ability to get discounted prices to pass on to us- without that, you're already sunk : So have you looked into that? If so then how about a few examples of what you can do for us on some mainstream products? For those who wear 24/7 this would be a boon but those who wear a couple bags a year might nor be easily convinced. It does seem most diaper suppliers are not ABDL friendly though they are ABDL aware, so having an ABDL running the store would be great

Even if you can't get deep enough discounts to make a member-only store, maybe it would be enough to make it worth your while to open a ABDL one-stop store that has just about everything at better-than-usual prices That would be good for everybody and might give you the financial reserves to go with the member-store idea as it gets you the business contacts it would take to succeed at the bigger idea

The main complaint about ABDL online sales seems to be delays in receiving the products If you are to succeed at anything you'll have to have a super reputation for delivering what you sell ontime. Just saying....

Bettypooh

[kootzkoo]

well i think he meant the 50 dollar price as just a ballpark figure, other prices can be worked out, until he makes the business plan he will not know how much of a cost is actually needed

This really could work actually, it would consist of all ab/dl supplier sites (diapers, clothing, accessories) integrated into one.

if I manufactured adult baby clothing and I knew that by having an agreement with his business, that he would get me so many extra customers per month, I would sign with him and cut a deal.. it would be up to him to decide how much of that discount to keep for running his business and how much to give to his customers.

I think the 50 dollar price-tag was really just meant as an example. it was really not the main point of his site.. so people attacking that number don't worry about that. that number is highly likely to go down,during his market research he will see what price it has to be for his business to work and still get a lot of customers.

50 dollars a year is not that much at all,, that's 4 bucks a month.. don't be so cheap you guys.you will definitely get the benefit back

4 dollars a month is far from being manipulative as one person said.

[Honu]

HD,

Thanks for adding a post that gets people thinking and shares your knowledge of marketing. I'm a professional engineer and my perspective is toward products and their design. One concept mentioned was manufacturing a premium diaper (like Dry 24/7) with decorations. The start up costs are high, but disposible diaper machines are available as well as other options to implement this idea. I've worked up a couple of reuseable diaper designs that are reproducible by people with sewing skills. Of course, if production was outsourced overseas, like to YunYun, the cost would be reasonable but the choice of materials may be limited. Add baby pants to your line (plenty are available) and you've pretty much covered the diaper market.

Looking more towards a mail-order warehouse, adding adult sized infantile furniture would satisfy another segment of the market. I haven't started working up designs here yet, but there are some designs and products available already. I'm referring to cribs in twin and queen sizes (I don't think there is a market for full or king size), high chairs and play pens in that order of popularity. Beyond that, there are production items intented for infants that ABs buy like baby bottles, dinner ware and pacifiers. Yes, there is a market for the Nuk 5, but there are plenty of ABs that prefer infant pacifers or only like silicon.

The final product line where I think there is unsatisfied demand is for juvenile style clothing in adult sizes. The problem here is that adults sizes are varied and usually these items are custom made. The exception would be for loose fitting clothes in S-M-L-XL would suit an on-line warehouse.

To encourage membership, I recommend that your site require a free registration to view products and membership to purchase. In viewing products, you should also show stock levels in the warehouse. That would be the business edge of a single location, on-line warehouse. Stock on hand would mean accruate shipment estimates which would be beneficial for those that need that for discretion.

Thanks again for opening a thread for people to add thoughts to.

[lovelylittle]

I have absolutely no business knowledge whatsoever so i'm not even going to try and speculate how a business like that would work- but I can say, as an AB/DL, that it sounds like a fantastic idea. It's very difficult to find affordable AB/DL products in one place, and I will gladly throw in my two cents as a consumer as to what i'd happily spend my money on.

I liked Honu's idea of offering loose-fitting S/M/L/XL type clothes so that they don't require custom sizing and can be offered cheaper- that would be easy to do with simple onesies, sleepers, rompers, and dresses; you can leave off all the fancy fabrics and lace and ruffles (I think that there are enough of us who dislike those things anyway to make that worth your while) and use simple printed cotton and jersey fabrics that aren't terribly expensive (and might I throw in, there should be different sizing for men and women, some of us little girls are actually little girls and a men's S/M/L is a lot different than womens'). I'd buy it in a heartbeat. If you look at Privatina, they have a lot of simple clothes that are adorable and without the custom sizing I think you could mimic a lot of them easily and make them quite a bit cheaper.

In terms of diapers, if you can find a way to manufacture disposables that can compete with ABU and Bambino at a lower price I think you're going to have a lot of success. There are TONS of incontinence diapers out there that are high performing, have multiple tapes, and are designed to hold a lot/fit well- we don't need any more of those. What we need are more choices for babyish diapers that are cute and affordable. Neither Bambino or ABU offer a very wide range of choices for different styles and our true tastes are all so different- my dream would be to have the choice between a plastic backed diaper that mimics the classic pampers (with 2 or 3 choices of tape strips at least one of which is geared specifically toward girls) a cloth backed diaper that mimics modern baby diapers (again with at least 2 or 3 different styles and colors and keeping the girls in mind) and printed adult pullups in 2 or 3 styles/colors as well. For us littles who need an authentic baby look, ABU is the only choice right now for two-tape diapers so I would strongly suggest it.

I like a previously stated idea that membership would come with a choice of a few free samples (and a few more with membership renewal), that's a good incentive to offer and allows to people to make sure they are getting quality products. It might be an even better incentive if you offer a free item of simple clothing as well (pick 5 free diaper samples and get a pink or blue onesie)! People are a lot more apt to shell out money on a whim if they get free stuff, and then they can try out the quality of your clothing as well- as long as the cost of membership allows for you to do it easily.

Also, Honu's idea of adding adult baby furniture to the mix is a good one. Also there needs to be a good central place for accessories like paci's, bottles, bibs, bedding... etc.

You should also definitely have frequent polls for members on items they would like to see. I do know one thing about business, if you offer something people want and they can't get it anywhere else they will get it from you!

If anyone actually starts a business like this and needs help designing diapers and clothes to appeal to us little girls i'd love to be a part of that i have tons of ideas floating around my head!

Anyway, just some consumer thoughts to consider.

[universitybaby23]

I'm going to have to disagree with quite a bit of that.

Someone previously suggested having trial memberships, which would mitigate the sudden $50 annual fee -- but even that can be changed. $50 was something that I suggested, but wasn't like, "Yes, we must do that price. Absolutely no compromise!" However, in theory, having some sort of up-front cost would allow people to reap the benefits from discounts. Only some of those proceeds would go toward site/server maintenance costs and revenue. Most of that fee would take a bite out of the suggested retail price. In the meantime, people can have trial memberships, or maybe even tiered membership/payment plans. Who knows?

You misunderstood the model. It's not, "Why order a pack of Abenas for an extra 50 dollars when I can get them at XPmedical or even ABU at regular price?" It's the fact that for one flat annual fee, customers would have access to bulk products at wholesale prices. You don't pay, say, $50 in order to buy one pack of Abenas. You pay for a year worth of savings on everything that isn't independently sold by an affiliated vendor. Then with special promotions and free samples, that makes the investment in bulk a lot more gratifying because it's an informed decision, and it gives the customer pride that they made a bulk purchase for the lowest online cost.

I believe there are AB/DL customers who do order on a consistent basis (the demand for premium AB/DL merchandise is quite high, according to Bambino and ABUniverse sales trends). The question should be: how many customers would order on a consistent basis? Second question is: how do you have consistent business with repeat customers? These are all objectives, or obstacles to overcome -- depending on how you look at it. Consistency comes from discreet shipping and good customer service, but you need more than that. You need the business to provide quality at a good price, and you need to be a resource that has the essential AB/DL supplies. Selling only commercial and customized "baby" diapers doesn't cut it. Selling on AB/DL clothing doesn't cut it. You have to have everything an AB/DL would want in order to have the best experience.

My two cents. Now I'll shut up

EDIT: Yes, the ideas I'm proposing would require an investment of capital. We would need investors.

May I start by saying this an awesome thread Horndog!IThe fact that we are the main consumers in this market really has the potential to give us an edge on figuring out what products the community really wants and different plans(such as the flat-rate membership idea) that the community would like to see. I did understand that the idea of paying a membership was only a one time fee and still feel the majority of consumers would pass up the site as soon as they saw this requirement .What do you think about starting a poll to get an idea of how people feel about this. I was also thinking we could use this one time fee as an option, not a requirementn such as a premium membership so we could deliver this priviledge for the consistent customers who are interested in the discounts and ability to buy quantity at wholesale. If we did this we could also sell to first time buyers at retail price for customers who arn't interested in the premium mebership benefits. I am not sure if this divide would scare away companies from giving us this discount, but I think think it would be a great way to attract new/less frequent customers and still provide this great service for those who are interested. I also agree with your statement that we would need more than just great customer service and delivery. The one-stop shop for all ABDL products is definily a great idea, and I stil think investing in a diaper printing machine so that we could design a line of our own premium adult diapers and pullups is something that could really help us in the competition.

I hope people keep contributing to this thread! We could use suggestions regarding product ideas, and fresh ideas for services we could provide!

[Horndog]

Received a few more PMs earlier today. I already mentioned that my ideas are not set in stone. I encourage more people to contribute ideas -- and so far, so good.

@Bettypooh,

I have looked into that. That's really one of the biggest challenges here. I'm constantly reminded of the fact that the AB/DL lifestyle is expensive, and people want those discounts. The problem is that applying the discounts -- that people would readily accept -- would result in cutting your nose in spite of your face. We, the business, would be at a loss. The membership fee would somewhat alleviate the impact of that loss, but by how much, we're not sure. All I know is that the fee is striking where the iron is hot. That's what we should be talking about: how to make up for the discounts.

Lots of question marks.

@Honu,

AB/DL furniture is a very interesting category in its own right. Furniture would definitely be part of the mix. With your engineer perspective, you could definitely be on the forefront of innovation in AB/DL products. Based on my research, infantile furniture in the AB/DL market is not promoted as much as it should be. I'm not an AB per se, but I can appreciate the ways ABs would want to personalize their experience beyond the realm of diapers and smaller accessories.

Years ago, I drew up ideas of cribs that doubled as normal queen-size, king-size beds. The premise is: have a product that can appeal to the "baby" in you while also having a product that people would need in general -- and it's all on your terms. So let's say you have company that visits you at your home or apartment. Before they arrive, you can alter the furniture with ease to change into something that's not infantile. When nobody is around, and you want to have some me time, you can undo the alternations and make it infantile. One example could be a bed with retractable crib bars. Another example would be dressers, drawers, and cabinets with discreet storage space. You mentioned high chairs. There could be high chairs that could be altered for adults in a way that it caters to adult needs. How about high chairs with booster seats to help improve posture? What about a tray insert that is large and sturdy enough to put a laptop on it? Adult-sized playpens that also work as yoga mats? The possibilities are endless.

Then there are items like toddler-like potties, which don't have adult benefits unless you treat them like medical commodes.

As far as diapers are concerned, I think people would appreciate a wide variety. What I like about ABUniverse's business model is that they supply commercial diapers as well as their own. What I would do is arrange products on a spectrum.

• Medical: Diapers for 24/7 use, severe/overnight incontinence protection etc.

• Active: Diapers that are for daytime use, moderate/heavy incontinence protection etc.

• Convenience: Diapers that are more underwear-like (i.e. "Pull-Ups," training pants)

• New Style: Diapers modeled after baby diapers from 1980-current

• Old Style: Diapers modeled after baby diapers produced before 1980

Obviously, there would be some overlap.

I know there are several cloth diaper manufacturers, but not enough disposable manufacturers that are "AB-aware." I would encourage casting a wider net of disposables. I'm in my late 20s, so I come from a generation that wore diapers with more prints than diapers from previous generations. So far, I don't see a lot of variety that would come close to emulating the diapers that I wore in the 1980s. I would love to have a site that has disposables from all eras.

EDIT: People suggested doing polls to measure support. I am absolutely for that, and everyone else should be. This is just discussion. If there's enough consensus to form a list of options, you can expect a wave of polls as soon as next week -- if that's OK with Mike, that is.