Welcome to our series spotlighting our Featured Vendors from our Vendor Guide. The guide includes carefully curated vendors from the baby and children’s industry in design, retail, special services and much more.
Today we want to introduce you to Charlie Banana, a company with a collection of baby and children’s products that are both eco-friendly and well-designed. Charlie Banana’s signature product is their 2-in-1 cloth diapering system, and since cloth is making a huge comeback amongst modern moms, we think you’ll love to learn more about this amazing brand. We’re obsessed with the functionality and design of their products!
What about Charlie Banana makes you most proud?
Charlie Banana is now an international, luxury brand of modern cloth diapers and eco-friendly baby products. In 2013, Charlie Banana became the first cloth diapering brand to be featured in a national network of Target stores in the US. This was a major stepping stone for the whole cloth diapering world. With wide coverage through national stores, parents who might never have discovered cloth diapering now have easy access to our stylish and reusable products.
Many parents are starting to see the advantages of the cloth experience. Cloth diapers don’t have the chemicals that are found in disposable diapers, and they don’t create the waste associated with disposables. The cost savings is simply the cherry on top! In addition, innovation has made modern cloth diapers easy to use and maintain and more hygienic than their predecessors.
Do you have a signature product or design element?
Charlie Banana was created out of a love for eco-friendliness, quality and design. Our most popular product is the Charlie Banana patented 2-in-1 reusable diaper system. This cloth pocket diaper is used with reusable washable inserts, and it also has a “smart” front panel that gives you the option of tucking in a disposable pad when you need to. This can help new parents transition from disposable to cloth diapers as it’s less intimidating and gives you more options.
Charlie Banana one-size reusable cloth diapers can fit a baby from birth to potty training. These diapers are fitted with a bra strap adjustment system that allows for a secure and comfortable fit around the legs. They also come with snaps so you can size the waist of the diaper as the baby grows.
What is your biggest piece of advice for new parents?
Do not let the “poo factor” scare you from discovering cloth diapering. If you use a liner, cloth diapering is easy as one, two, three! A diaper liner is a very thin but strong piece of paper (it looks like a piece of paper towel—ours is biodegradable) that you simply lay on top of your diaper prior to fastening the diaper on your child. The liquid will pass through, but the solids will stay on top of the liner. When baby does #2, simply lift the liner and flush the little bundle in the toilet. You’ll be left with a dirty diaper but not a messy one! We LOVE these at Charlie Banana.
If you’re in doubt, please at least try using cloth diapers at night (babies do not usually poo at night). It will be the best twenty bucks you’ve ever spent.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I was born in Paris to French parents who, before I turned two, built a 65 ft. sailboat and set out upon the world’s oceans in search of adventure. In such quarters, one’s imagination is a powerful force, and I learned the advantages of recycling, saving and creating beautiful things in a mariner’s milieu. When my parents settled in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, I spent my formative years walking the white sands and nurturing creativity.
Currently, I live between the US and Hong Kong. My daughter Charlie is five, and Zachary, my son, is eight years old—they have always been my inspiration.
I was lucky to start cloth diapering when Zachary was born in 2006 when my friend Agnès introduced me to cloth. Considering the amount of time a baby spends in diapers, I thought it was an amazing product that needed to be marketed, explained and styled to appeal to our generation. I fell in love with the concept and realized how difficult it was to find modern and stylish cloth diapers. I had discovered a diamond in the rough. We launched Charlie Banana in October 2010, and now it’s so much more than just cloth diapers.
Tell us your motto.
Be good!
Charlie Banana is a lifestyle. When you step into the world of reusable, you simply cannot go back. Every product that you purchase will have to meet your new criteria. Our customers begin with our diapers, and then they continue to immerse themselves into this stylish, reusable lifestyle. Being comfortable, being healthy, being green and being savvy all equal BEING GOOD.
To learn more about Charlie Banana, visit their listing in our Vendor Guide.
If you are interested in applying to become a Project Nursery Vendor, please click here.
