$15 Alvas. Oh, Lord.

tokenhoser

I went to a local mommy trade show over the weekend and a "local" company tried to sell me Alvas for $15 each. And only $4 for a bamboo insert!

I feel bad for anyone that buys any. And I can't imagine stomaching that as a business. I couldn't do it.

Mandmeesh

You should've called them on it!

YellowLily2013

As sickening as it is. That is how business is. Really. Everything you buy has been marked up. Alvas are cheap because they don't do marketing and you buy them directly from china.

If they were sold in buybuybaby id put money on it that they'd atleast be twice as much as your paying now.

tokenhoser

I just feel like they're taking advantage of the newbs. And then Alvas don't actually work well with the inserts they come with, so they're creating a bunch of "cloth diapers don't work" bitter users.

YellowLily2013

tokenhoser said:

I just feel like they're taking advantage of the newbs. And then Alvas don't actually work well with the inserts they come with, so they're creating a bunch of "cloth diapers don't work" bitter users.

Oh I hear ya!! There's nothing you or I can do -- except perhaps... stand beside their booth and inform their customers / potential customers of their sleazy business practice.

jesstellina

tokenhoser said:

I just feel like they're taking advantage of the newbs. And then Alvas don't actually work well with the inserts they come with, so they're creating a bunch of "cloth diapers don't work" bitter users.

I hate that!! That's actually kinda how I feel about the wide availability of Gdiapers too. It might be the only type of CD people see a babies r us, then when they don't like them they write off CD's altogether.

littleredfish

theresat858 said:

I actually love my alvas. but I did start stuffing them with prefolds then flats.

Same here. I stuff with prefolds for ON but I still use them with the inserts they came with. I used the MF alone until she was 4-5 months, then started adding an Alva bamboo insert as a doubler. My feeling is yes I get annoyed when I see them rebranded for more money, but that's on the buyer to do their research. As mothers, I know we analyse and research the heck out of everything, why should CDs be any different?

Also if somebody gives up on CDs because ONE brand didn't work, I don't think they were that committed/invested in the first place. If I based my CD experience on BGs, which tend to be widely loved, I wouldn't be CDing today. The fit was awful, the legs always gapped, one delaminated super fast (which I know I could return, but still the point remains). Meanwhile my Alvas have held up amazingly well, fit perfect, only leaked under user error, and now make up 95% of my OS stash.

I know what you're saying though about the frustration with companies that choose to mark them up without being forth coming. There is a "WAHM" in my town that markets overpriced Alvas as diapers she made!!! It's infuriating that she's blatantly lying and charging so much, but it doesn't take much research to figure her out.