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The Hygiene Market
component suppliers are raising the bar on innovation while keeping
by Sandra Levy
Walk into any store that sells baby diapers, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products and you’ll see that manufacturers are jockeying to differentiate themselves with claims like thinner, more absorbent, softer, more comfortable, ecofriendly and skin-friendly items. This means manufacturers are piling the pressure on their suppliers—makers of tapes, closures, films, backsheet and topsheet material, superabsorbent polymers and elastics—to provide innovations while keeping a lid on costs.
Market data show that their efforts have paid off. The global hygiene market for diapers, adult incontinence items and sanitary protection devices continues to show healthy growth, topping $57.1 billion in 2008 and is estimated to swell to $69.1 billion in 2013, according to Euromonitor International.
