Benefits of the TruCotton used in Kudos diapers
Kudos diapers are the first and only diapers to have earned the cotton natural™ seal for having 100% natural cotton touching baby’s bum all day. Not the typical plastic-based materials. To understand what makes cotton so special, and Kudos cotton in particular, we sat down with Lawson Gary, our friend and trusted supplier of the TruCotton used in Kudos diapers, to learn more!
Cotton field Cotton farm Lawson Gary, Supplier of TruCotton
Hi Lawson! Can you tell us a little bit about TruCotton and what makes it special?
TruCotton is a 100% natural cotton fiber which has been carefully mechanically cleaned to unprecedented levels.
TruCotton is made with a breakthrough dry process which utilizes zero water, chemicals, or process heat.
We know of no other process that has ever been able to achieve this level of purified cotton cellulose without the use of caustic chemicals.
TruCotton has been certified to the strictest most coveted textile environmental and safety standard, Oeko-Tex Standard 100, and was the first cotton product to acquire the new USDA BioBased certification.
Where is your cotton sourced from?
All of our cotton is farm-direct from cotton farmers in the U.S.A.
I'm seeing a few black specs in my diaper? Should I be worried?
Nope, not at all! That’s just our cotton showing off how natural it is. Most cotton has it, but is typically 100% bleached so you can’t see those specs. It’s perfectly safe for babies -- in fact, when you don’t see the little black specs on products that are made from cotton, that means it has undergone harsher processing.
Can you tell us a bit more about the sustainability of cotton?
The majority of fibers in use today -- including the ones lining most disposable diapers -- are plastic materials derived from the petroleum industry. Chemicals added to plastics are absorbed by human bodies. Some of these compounds have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects and plastics buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater.
As a natural, renewable fiber, cotton (and hence TruCotton) has obvious environmental and sustainability advantages. Furthermore, unlike these petroleum-based fibers, cotton is energy self-sustaining, and does not contribute to net greenhouse gas emissions. Cotton uses sunlight and converts it directly to a fiber without intermediate processing steps.
Cotton has a “negative” energy footprint, capturing more solar energy in the seed than is used to produce it.
This is highly significant since processing other fibers, even those from biological sources, requires a large amount of energy both from feed and in subsequent processing to produce usable fiber. Furthermore, fibers that are based on natural cellulosic resources require intermediate processing and additional chemicals to create for example, rayon, which is often found in bamboo diapers. These do not show the direct plant-based production of an immediately usable fiber as seen with TruCotton.
What are some characteristics of cotton that you think make it uniquely well positioned for baby diapers?
Cotton (and hence TruCotton) in its natural form has a well known and unique handle unmatched by any other fiber type both dry and wet. In fact, it is the only fiber known that actually increases in strength when in contact with water. Cotton is clinically proven hypoallergenic and TruCotton in particular is very soft.
Would you feel comfortable having your baby sitting in TruCotton all day?
You bet your baby’s bottom I would!
Cotton fibers Cotton fibers Cotton plant
