Tara Olivo, associate editor07.10.15
The company that invented the fluffless diaper is continuing on a path of innovation in the hygiene market. Drylock Technologies of Zele, Belgium, came out with the Magics fluffless diaper in 2012 and introduced a second-generation version last year.
“It’s improving all the time. It’s always a work in progress,” Drylock founder and CEO Bart Van Malderen says of his company’s fluffless technology. The improved diapers incorporate extremely soft nonwovens—something customers are looking for—which he’s sees coming from Japan and Russia, and now more so in Europe. While it makes the product more expensive, “it’s something that is really moving forward,” he adds.
Magics baby diapers, which are mainly sold under private label, are currently available in 28 European countries, and are continuing to gain shelf space, especially in the Nordic countries, as well as in Germany and France. “It took a little bit of time for the big retailers to understand the product and to be willing to take the risk with a thin product like that, but what we see in most cases is we put our diapers at premium on top of what they have existing on the shelf, and now more and more retailers take the premium and the normal diaper and fluffless, and just change some features. That’s the evolution that we see so that it’s more and more accepted,” he explains.
And it’s the thinness that’s driving the demand for fluffless hygiene products, according to Van Malderen. But while thinness was a big advantage when the company first started marketing the Magics diaper, he says users were also skeptical in the beginning, asking: “Can this thin diaper absorb so much?”
Once an increasing number of consumers used the product, the doubt went away and the thinner diapers gained more acceptance, he says. Now, the competition for the thinnest diaper is heating up among diaper manufacturers. “What we see from the competition in the last three years is that they have also adapted the diapers by taking out fluff and adding more super absorbent, changing the proportions. So, in general, in Europe especially, I can see that the diapers became thinner, so the visual difference is less and less in the premium segment.”
Catering to Adults
It’s not all about baby diapers at Drylock. In addition to offering feminine care items, which were on the market prior to the first fluffless diaper, the company is broadening its fluffless footprint by rolling out products for the adult incontinence market. The first batch of items from its Dailee adult inco brand began shipping in the last few weeks to an institutional customer in Germany.
Dylock recently launched fluffless adult inco products.
Drylock is manufacturing a full range of adult incontinence products including a fluffless light inco product—similar to a sanitary napkin—which is available in a variety of sizes. In two months, Van Malderen reveals the company will have a fluffless adult pant. “That is really something completely new,” he adds.
Also part of the incontinence range is Drylock’s low fluff all-in-one adult diaper, which appears to be significantly lower in fluff content than other products in the market. According to EDANA’s 2014-2015 Sustainability Report, the composition of an all-in-one product in 2013 was 65% fluff pulp, but Van Malderen says Drylock was able to take a substantial amount of pulp out and produce an all-in-one with 50% less fluff than comparable brands. This has an important impact on comfort and environmental benefits, he says.
Expansion on the Horizon
Drylock currently has two plants—in Niznhy Novgorod, Russia, and Hradek, Czech Republic—but by the end of this year it will finalize its third plant in Tatarstan, Russia.
“We will have one facility for fem care, and one facility for adult inco and baby products,” he says. “Right now we still make everything in the one plant, so we will split it up. The baby and inco lines will move to the new plant.”
Van Malderen expects the new Russian facility to be up and running by early 2016.
“It’s improving all the time. It’s always a work in progress,” Drylock founder and CEO Bart Van Malderen says of his company’s fluffless technology. The improved diapers incorporate extremely soft nonwovens—something customers are looking for—which he’s sees coming from Japan and Russia, and now more so in Europe. While it makes the product more expensive, “it’s something that is really moving forward,” he adds.
Magics baby diapers, which are mainly sold under private label, are currently available in 28 European countries, and are continuing to gain shelf space, especially in the Nordic countries, as well as in Germany and France. “It took a little bit of time for the big retailers to understand the product and to be willing to take the risk with a thin product like that, but what we see in most cases is we put our diapers at premium on top of what they have existing on the shelf, and now more and more retailers take the premium and the normal diaper and fluffless, and just change some features. That’s the evolution that we see so that it’s more and more accepted,” he explains.
And it’s the thinness that’s driving the demand for fluffless hygiene products, according to Van Malderen. But while thinness was a big advantage when the company first started marketing the Magics diaper, he says users were also skeptical in the beginning, asking: “Can this thin diaper absorb so much?”
Once an increasing number of consumers used the product, the doubt went away and the thinner diapers gained more acceptance, he says. Now, the competition for the thinnest diaper is heating up among diaper manufacturers. “What we see from the competition in the last three years is that they have also adapted the diapers by taking out fluff and adding more super absorbent, changing the proportions. So, in general, in Europe especially, I can see that the diapers became thinner, so the visual difference is less and less in the premium segment.”
Catering to Adults
It’s not all about baby diapers at Drylock. In addition to offering feminine care items, which were on the market prior to the first fluffless diaper, the company is broadening its fluffless footprint by rolling out products for the adult incontinence market. The first batch of items from its Dailee adult inco brand began shipping in the last few weeks to an institutional customer in Germany.
Dylock recently launched fluffless adult inco products.
Drylock is manufacturing a full range of adult incontinence products including a fluffless light inco product—similar to a sanitary napkin—which is available in a variety of sizes. In two months, Van Malderen reveals the company will have a fluffless adult pant. “That is really something completely new,” he adds.
Also part of the incontinence range is Drylock’s low fluff all-in-one adult diaper, which appears to be significantly lower in fluff content than other products in the market. According to EDANA’s 2014-2015 Sustainability Report, the composition of an all-in-one product in 2013 was 65% fluff pulp, but Van Malderen says Drylock was able to take a substantial amount of pulp out and produce an all-in-one with 50% less fluff than comparable brands. This has an important impact on comfort and environmental benefits, he says.
Expansion on the Horizon
Drylock currently has two plants—in Niznhy Novgorod, Russia, and Hradek, Czech Republic—but by the end of this year it will finalize its third plant in Tatarstan, Russia.
“We will have one facility for fem care, and one facility for adult inco and baby products,” he says. “Right now we still make everything in the one plant, so we will split it up. The baby and inco lines will move to the new plant.”
Van Malderen expects the new Russian facility to be up and running by early 2016.
