History of Kanga Care
Julie, is our CEO, the inventor, creator, and designer of all things Kanga Care! At a young age, sewing caught her eye as she watched her mother create her holiday dresses and halloween costumes. As the years went on from watching her mother and creating sweet nothings, Julie had a strong ability to create her own masterpieces!
After Julie and Chad's second daughter, Autumn, was born, they discovered that she had a strong sensitivity to disposable diapers and could not wear them even for a few hours.
It was clear that cloth diapering was going to be the solution to Autumn's delicate skin and rashes. However, Julie quickly became discouraged after sampling several different brands of cloth diapers. Not satisfied with the fit or function in the available brands, Julie started brainstorming and took straight to the drawing table, creating her own ideas for a diaper pattern.
Going back to her roots and knowledge about sewing, Julie created a solution to their problem and designed her own cloth diaper. The first thing she did was invent the, now patented, dual (double) inner gussets which holds 4 US Patents. US Patent 8,425,483, US Patent 8,961,484, US Patent 9,572,726, and US Patent 10,201,460.
This incredibly innovative idea came to Julie one night, as she dozed off, pondering the challenge of leak containment which plagued her around the clock. In a semi-asleep state, she crawled out of bed and roughly stitched together (another) prototype of her concept, ensuring that she wouldn't forget it, before returning to sleep. The next morning she had been up for several hours before recalling this event as it all came flooding back to her when she saw the sewn pieces sitting at her sewing table! THIS was finally the solution.
News quickly spread from Julie's local mom's group about her unique double gusset cloth diapers. Soon after these new "Rumparooz" diaper were all the rage on the internets favorite cloth diaper forums. Julie's formal degree is web and graphic design so she built a website, listing her prints and diaper options she could sew, and orders rapidly came in! So many orders that Julie temporarily had to shut her site down. After calculating her time (as she was making all the diapers by hand, by herself, at this time), she had orders totaling what would take 2 years out to make! Julie contacted customers to notify them of their potential wait list/shipping dates, not one customer cancelled their order. Julie re-opened the website with full disclosure on the wait list time and orders continued to pour in!
Julie started off with $100 worth of fabric purchased at retail price from her nearby fabric store. After several more trips to the local fabric store just fulfill the first influx of orders, there was no initial profit to be made. It was immediately clear that a different approach was necessary. Julie was going to need wholesale materials, cut and sew facilities, and manufacturing capabilities.
In 2006 and 2007 this endeavor required old-fashioned methods such as flipping through the phone book, scouring the yellow pages, networking, and establishing connections. Julie dedicated herself to making numerous phone calls, diligently searching for reliable sources to purchase materials and supplies, as well as seeking out local manufacturers who could assist with her workload. Unlike today's convenience of a simple Google search, Julie had to put in considerable effort and rely on personal connections to find what she needed.
No simple google search for this project! No catalog manufacturers reaching out with ready made product to order.
Over the course of a few years, Julie faced numerous challenges in the manufacturing process, enduring stressful disasters along the way. One memorable incident involved a one-day trip to Chicago with her five-month-old baby, Sebastian (baby #3) and her father, where she had to ship every bit of Kanga Care property back home. However, despite these setbacks, Julie's determination persevered.
Finally, in late 2009, Julie found the factory where Kanga Care products continue to be manufactured to this day. This marked a significant milestone in her journey, providing stability and reliability for Kanga Care.
Today Kanga Care products are sold across the world. To this day Julie continues to prototype, design and expand the Kanga Care product line from newborn diapers, fitted cloth diapers, training pants, cloth diapering accessories and lifestyle products.
Every Kanga Care cloth diaper and accessory product is meticulously crafted and patterned from the ground up at Julie's drafting table. These designs are primarily inspired by her own experience as a parent and from her children, serving as the muse for each creation, and are never sourced from pre-existing catalogs. This commitment to invention and originality sets Kanga Care's cloth diapers and accessories apart as the epitome of innovation within the industry.
