Cloth Pads Fabric Selection and Care
Due to the durability of hemp fabrics, we have gone to great lengths to choose the highest quality, sustainable fabrics available to pair with them.
Hemp
Organic hemp fleece is the backbone of our pad line. Hemp is considered an organic fabric as it is grown without the need for herbicides or pesticides. Our hemp fleece is a true natural fiber and contains no polyester or synthetic. It is made from 55% hemp and 45% certified organic cotton. It is CPSIA compliant, meeting stringent standards by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission on lead and phthalates and flammability. It contains no lead, BPA, phthalates or other harmful chemicals.
Hemp is a very durable fabric. When hemp blended fabric is compared to similar weighted cotton fabric, it is three times stronger. Thus hemp blended fabrics last much longer than plain cottons do. While plain cottons wear out with multiple washings over time, hemp blends tend to wear in by softening and strengthening with use, wear and washing. Hemp fabrics may be washed and dried at any temperature but do better when warm to hot temps are used especially when the fabrics are new.
Hemp is naturally resistant to mold, mildew, bacteria, and ultraviolet rays. It is dense and porous making it 3x more absorbent that cotton materials of equal weight.
Hemp is very breathable, again due to the porous nature of the fabric. It is cooler in warmer weather than similar cotton fabrics and warmer in cooler weather as it holds heat from your body better.
For a more in-depth look at hemp, see our page "Why Choose Cloth Pads Made with Hemp Textiles."
Conditioning
Before use, your pads will need to be conditioned. For this we recommend using a hot wash and dry. Like bath towels, cloth products, especially hemp fabrics, need to be washed and dried several times to reach their full absorbency. Hemp tends to reach it's peak around the 10th washing. We recommend you wash and dry at least three to four times on hot settings before beginning use. You can test your pads for absorbency by pouring a small amount of liquid on the top of the pad. If the liquid soaks in immediately, the pad is ready for use. If the liquid sits on top of the pad for a few seconds, the pad needs more conditioning.
Storage and Laundering
Our customers generally put their soiled pads into a container separate from their usual laundry. When they were ready to wash, they ran the pads through a rinse cycle first, then washed like their white loads. Do not use fabric softener nor dryer sheets as they will coat your pads and interfere with absorbency. As far as laundry soaps go, we've tried eco-friendly soaps, handmade borax type soaps, and many name brand soaps and found none adversely affected the pads. So our soap recommendation is going to be whatever your personal choice is. The only thing we do not recommend is bleach. If staining is an issue, sunning the pads works wonders. Over the years, we've had zero complaints about "stinky hemp" and we believe this is doe to the more open construction of these pads allowing them to be fully agitated and cleaned well.
For storage of soiled pads while on the go, our customers found a Zip Lock to be perfect.
100% Organic Cotton
Our organic cotton is GOTS certified.
Print Fabrics
Unless otherwise noted, the print fabrics, both flannel and cotton, are NOT organic. We use quilt shop quality fabrics for our prints.
Zorb
Zorb contains only tangled cellulose fibers from bamboo/cotton/viscose and poly micro fiber, These non-allergenic fibers are non-allergenic, durable and easy to sanitize It is manufactured in the USA and Canada by Wazoodle. Zorb is the leading industry brand of super absorbent fabrics. It can trap moisture & absorb 10x it's weight in moisture in 0.5 seconds; 20x faster than cotton, bamboo or hemp knits. Zorb is not an organic fabric but is CPSIA certified.
ProSoft ProECO PUL
This is a breathable, waterproof American-made environmentally safe PUL is CPSIA certified & contain no lead, BPA, phthalates or other harmful chemicals. This PUL was specifically made to be safe for skin contact, even on baby skin. Fabric contains 75% polyester and 25% polyurethane. This is extremely durable fabric able to remain waterproof even after 300+ washes. It is manufactured in the USA and Canada by Wazoodle and is CPSIA certified.
Wool
Wool in our pads is fully washable at any temp as it is felted. No special care required. Please note that our wool is not organic; it is a wool/poly blend.
Snaps
Our snaps are made from a type of plastic called polyacetal resin, that is stronger and more durable than other types of plastic. Our snaps are BPA-free
Final Note on the Durability of our Pads
We use our own products. That said, we do not baby them. We've washed them every way possible, dyed them, sun-bleached them, and quite literally pushed them to what we felt was their limit. Since 2002, we have only had to toss six pads that developed holes in the hemp fabric over time. Those pads were some of the very first that were sewn and were over ten years old at the time. We've seen the backing fabrics fade over time and occasionally the waterproof barrier will begin to leak, but by and large, the hemp itself lasts and lasts.