Collection: Minimi
Minimi's Story: I am a kiwi mum in Christchurch, New Zealand with a love for cloth nappies and a knack for problem-solving. Minimi is my New Zealand based business providing high quality products with an ethic of transparency and honesty. I have two tamariki and have been a stay at home parent for the last three years. Hardest job I have ever done!
Minimi was started in October 2019. I had struggled with trying to fit nappies on my eldest who had outgrown my OSFM nappies and after looking around, I realised I would have to buy all new nappies and even then, I wasn’t sure how long they would last. With one in fulltime nappies and one in night time only, I wanted something that I could use on both of them. I couldn’t find a nappy that snapped small enough to fit my teeny 6-month-old kiddo as well as my taller than average 3-year-old. I designed adapters to start with. After redesigning several times, one night I thought…. gosh it would be so good to just have a nappy that did this. So, I designed one!
After doing small prototypes and several designs, I collated all the things I loved about the different designs and started looking for someone much more experienced to make them. I finally found someone who (after many conversations and lots of convincing!!), agreed to try making samples for me. Three lots of samples later with a tonne of testing to put the nappy to extremes, I was happy. I would always reach for my nappy over others and was frustrated when they were in the wash!
Another area that bothered me was the prevalence of oil-based synthetic in the inserts. I was disheartened at the amount of inserts I had thought were natural fibres, were in fact either almost completely polyester/microfibre or had both hidden and disclosed polyester. It seemed like I needed a degree in cloth nappy fabric to work out what I was buying!
Right there and then I decided, no polyester or microfibre would be used in my absorbency.
I want to be completely transparent about what I sell and what is in my products.
I also want them to be fool proof, no working out what else you needed to add, no buying multiple different types of inserts as your baby changed their needs, no fabric that said it was something, to later be disappointed. I want to save people the stress and the extra money spent on something you could have bought right from the start.
I want to reduce the amount of oil-based synthetic fibre use and have inserts that will be compostable at the end of their use. I want to reduce the load of plastic microparticles entering our waterways.
I am not even on the spectrum of eco perfect (nor do I think that I ever will be!) but I need to do better and this is my way of helping you, your baby, your wallet, and our environment.
Ngā mihi nui,
Kelly
