It was the birth of her daughter Floss that inspired Carla Stevens and her family to move towards a more sustainable and eco-conscious way of living, with their desire to leave behind a better world for the next generation. At Floss + Co, they want to encourage parents and caregivers to consider replacing some of the disposable items in their babies’ daily care routine, whether that be nappies, wipes or nursing pads. They have created a beautiful range of cloth nappies and accessories that are comfortable, functional and user-friendly. Their ‘one size fits most’ nappy design makes them an affordable and sustainable option for families. Here Carla talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind the Floss + Co range, the biggest breakthrough for her business, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I like to think this business is my brainchild but let’s be honest, it’s all Floss. Without her we wouldn’t know a thing about cloth nappies. We also wouldn’t have become the sustainable and eco-conscious family we are now. There’s nothing like bringing new life into the world to really make you reassess the state in which you want to leave the world for the next generation.
We have been a cloth nappy family from day one – Floss was in her first cloth nappy at 3 hours old (so tiny!). We have since tried just about every cloth nappy on the market here in NZ and I have (somewhat selfishly) formulated a nappy that I think combines functional and user-friendly features into one premium, reusable nappy.
Lastly, I am 5’11 and Floss’s dad is 6’3. Our dear Floss was never going to be short of growing genes and I could see how quickly she was outgrowing her cloth nappies, so set out to make a generously-sized yet affordable nappy that would see babies through from a wee 5kg to toilet training, saving them repeat purchases and money in the long run. Being a parent is not cheap!
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
We started with a humble wee order of nappies, breast pads, nappy pods and reusable wipes and a dream of encouraging as many parents as possible to try cloth nappies. I knew what I wanted in a nappy and I wanted to see if it was what other mums wanted. Turns out it is!
I currently design, plan, pack, and advertise from our home office. It’s all very glamorous but the lunchbreaks are long and the tiny human company is great!
We launched just last month so I would love to answer this question again for you in a year’s time! 😊
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I did the unthinkable in the eyes of most business owners and dropped our prices just a week after opening.
For context: Something wasn’t sitting quite right with me when we launched and while I was out on our daily walk it hit me: encouragement is our biggest core value at Floss + Co and I realised that our original price point actually excluded and discouraged a lot of families from trying cloth nappies, so I simply dropped our price, much to the happy confusion of our customers and followers!
We received a huge influx of messages from mums and parents the world over thanking us for the price change and for thinking of them.
I’m proud to say we have since encouraged many new parents to give reusable items a try in their baby’s daily care routine. It makes me so happy I could burst!
