Meet the Maker: Heather and Shannon Hicks of Knickernappies

Posted by Bryana on July 26, 2010

This month’s “Meet the Maker” segment at Cloth Diaper Blog features another manufacturer of cloth diapers and cloth diapering related products, Heather and Shannon Hicks of Knickernappies.

The jump from owning and running a brick & mortar bookstore to starting an online cloth diaper store might seem like quite a leap to some, but the entrepreneurial spirit in the couple behind Knickernappies made it work. With the quick popularity of Knickernappies cloth diapers and accessories, the bookstore was sold and a custom garage/warehouse was built; Heather and Shannon are able to work from home, with the production of Knickernappies diapers, inserts, and other sewn products produced right there in Springfield, Oregon.

Products like the Knickernappies One Size Pocket Diaper, Knickernappies Stay Dry Diaper Doubler, Knickernappies LoopyDo Insert, SuperDo Insert, and their Stay Dry Nursing Pads are all made with the highest standards right here in the good ol’ USA!

CDB Interview with Heather Hicks

CDB: What is your most memorable business experience so far?

Hicks: Launching our OneSize diaper in 2009. I was so nervous…despite dozens of prototypes and months of testing with babies, I was afraid the diaper would be a flop. The morning we posted the first diapers for sale, I watched nervously to see if anyone would order. Happily, retailers did place orders on that first day and the diaper quickly became our best-selling product.

CDB: What is your most frequently asked question about your line of products?

Hicks: The question I’m asked most often is “Where are your diapers made?” We are proud that all of our products, including inserts, are cut and sewn in the USA.

CDB: If you could start over, what would you do differently?

Hicks: I would try to release new products sooner. It took us 2 years to perfect the OneSize diaper and even longer than that for our Stackable Menstrual Pads. I’d love to be able to come up with a design, test it, and release it all within a few months. Otherwise, I’m happy with how our company has grown and progressed.

CDB: What do you consider your biggest achievement?

Hicks: I’m pretty proud of our LoopyDo and SuperDo Inserts. They were originally made to solve a problem we had with our daughter: leaking due to inadequate inserts. We made LoopyDo for daytime and SuperDo for nighttime. Both have proven to be the answer to the same problem for thousands of cloth diapering families.

CDB: If you had to name one all-encompassing theme of your business’ product line, what would it be?

Hicks: Easy to use and dependable. Overall, cloth diapering shouldn’t be hard. Diapers shouldn’t be hard to wash, they shouldn’t stink, they shouldn’t leak. The same goes for our menstrual pads, nursing pads, pail liners, etc…easy to use and dependable.

CDB: What was the first cloth diaper/diaper cover combination you ever used?

Hicks: My first ever cloth diaper was a pocket with velcro closure. It was sage green and leaked like a sieve, but it was enough to convince us to keep trying and to go cloth 100%.

CDB: How many employees do you staff?

Hicks: We have two full-time (my husband and me) employees and one part-time. We also have 4 contract sewers.

CDB: If you manufacture, do you do it locally? If not locally, what is your relationship with the manufacturer?

Hicks: Yes, we are very proud that all of our products are cut and sewn right here in Springfield, Oregon. We’ve been with our sew shop for about 3 1/2 years and it’s a very symbiotic relationship.

CDB: Do you still have children in cloth diapers?

Hicks: Yes! We started with our daughter, who is now 5 years old. And we continue with our son, who was born in June 2010, so he’s our official diaper tester now!

CDB: When did you begin your business? Any fun stories about starting on a shoestring budget?

Hicks: We started as a retail store in October 2005 with six boxes of Baby Bits in my mother-in-law’s garage. Knickernappies became a wholesale-only store in 2006 but we stayed in the garage for another couple of years. The inside of the garage was covered walls-and-ceiling with blue tarps to keep out the heat. We called it the “blue room”. Now we’re in a much larger space that is temperature controlled and we’re all much happier!

CDB: Is yours a family business or partnership? (Who are the partners – if relevant?)

Hicks: Family business. My husband and I run the business together. He takes care of the warehouse and I take care of the computer work and customer service.

CDB: Any new products or changes on the horizon we can anticipate?

Hicks: We have several products in testing right now. We made lots of prototypes before our son was born so that we could test them from the very beginning of the newborn stage.

CDB: Care to share the funniest incident/phone call/request ever received?

Hicks: My favorite is the photos I get of kids using LoopyDo inserts for playtime. I’ve seen them used as doll slings, necklaces (don’t recommend that of course!) and belts. Kids think up the silliest things and I love it when parents share those moments with me.

CDB: What has been your most difficult challenge in designing this product line/growing this business?

Hicks: Managing the growth. My husband and I had a business prior to Knickernappies, but it failed. We didn’t have any experience with a successful business, so managing that growth has sometimes proven a challenge. We do things one step at a time, though, so it works out.

CDB: What is your product’s greatest features?

Hicks: On our diapers, I think the best feature is the gentle leg elastic. So many diapers that we used for our daughter had tight elastic that left red marks. We found specialized elastic that solves that problem and doesn’t break down the way normal elastic can. It’s very long-lasting and stretches easily.