on Sunday, to the fabby trade show Harrogate Nursery Fair We got up nice and early on the morning after the clocks went forward (where's that bozz-eyed smiley??) and got there about 11am. Had a good mooch round, chatted with some people I've met before, poked and played with a lot of cool and not so cool stuff. Had a good long natter with Shani of SlingJax and NapsackBaby and dragged her off for an hour to look at all the different slings and carriers and other bits and bods too, much fun! Hopefully she's now having a well-earned rest, both her feet and her face will be tired from standing up and being nice to people for 3 days solid, lol. We were just about leaving when the 'The exhibition is now closed' message came over the tannoy! Can we chew the fat or what?!
What did we look at? And what did we think of it? Well...
There were a load of slings and carriers! Which is encouraging... Samsonite have a new range of bags for mothers, their 'Lady with a Baby' collection, which is stunning to look at, really made me go 'whoa!' from across the hall. Completely gorgeous, and the one for next year that was hiding in the 'back room' on the stand... mmm... While we were oo-ing and ahh-ing at those, we got a shufty at their front-pack. As front-packs go, this one has the usual limitations for the baby, but the way the straps work for the adults make it much more likely, in my opinion, to be comfortable for more people. The straps don't cross, they run straight down over the shoulders before being anchored to the waistband/lumbar support with a slight angle. This should stop the problem of straps riding up and cutting into the neck, this issue plagues me with MTs too, and I solve it in a similar way, I think they've been reading my forum posts ;)
TotsBots have a new 'arm,' TotsLife, with a clever 3-in-1 potty, changing bag and a carrier based on the stretchy wrap. A very interesting concept, needs a bit of tweaking really. Is going into pretty much direct competition with the Close Baby Carrier, in the 'let's make the stretchy wrap less intimidating' market. I think it will fit more people than the Close but the tweaks are important. I'll be keeping an eye out for a proper launch!
The 'Baby and All Bag' is an interesting thing. We were all set to really not like it but it's actually not all that bad. It's designed as a very short term 'emergency' carrier, so the narrowness of the panel that stops the child sliding forwards off the bag isn't so big a deal as it could be. It's a nifty solution for a common issue, really. But I'd like to see more of a seat and less of a 'dangling' effect.
Little Company had a carrier prototype, which, really beggars description! The best thing that I could see from it was the straps, the padding was cylindrical rather than flat so even if it does ride up to my neck it wouldn't cut in. Again I'll be watching out for a product launch.
The Belle Baby Carrier is another 'comfy for the adult' carrier, it's very very narrow in the seat though. And the leopard print does nothing at all for me.
Peanut Shell have some bling stretchy wraps, they're rather long! It was trailing on the ground and I hadn't tied it all that tight. I don't like the designs much but people do say life would be boring if everyone thought the same way.
There were other carriers, some front-packs, some others. Oh yes Napsack! Nice :-) Lighter weight than some, making it more flexible and smaller-packing. Can't say anything nasty about it, I'd get hurt ;-)
'Honourable mentions' for non-carrier products, lol...
The Poteez is a neat idea, a throwaway compostable one-use potty. They come in packs of 5, flat-packed cardboard. It pops up for use, has a self-adhesive panel to stick the lid down after use and can be chucked in the heap! Much greener than a throwaway nappy...
I really need to stock the iPlay swim nappy, if only because the distributors were giving away margaritas and peanuts on their stand, lol, oh and I've spent a good deal of time with them 3 times at shows now and not gotten round to ordering. (Hi Brendan, if you read this!!) The same company also distribute some very nice changing bags, something else I need to get round to stocking.
There was a neat tandem pushchair, the ICandy Pear I really like the adaptability of it. More compact than the Leebruss 'Zoom' though that does mean there's a bit less legroom for the back seat passenger I guess. Anyway, if you need a tandem, it's got to be worth a look.
Difrax do a neat training cup (scroll to the bottom) that doesn't bash the child on the nose! One of those 'oh that's so obvious' ideas... They also do bendy bottles that might be of interest to parents of bottle-fed babies who suffer with wind-intake, or ec-ers looking for a night solution for boys ;-)
Last but not least, I have to mention the DreamGenii maternity pillow. Mostly because Kirsty from FBS, who I dragged round the show, managed to blag one from their UK rep! Jammy so-and-so that she is...
All in all, an educational visit, as always. Lovely to meet people and chat stuff, play with a load of new toys, lol. Might just pull my finger out and have my own stand next year... ah, next year...
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2 comments:
Hi, I enjoyed reading your Harrogate review - fascinating. Am particularly interested in finding out about the TotsLife product - read about it in the nursery industry magazine, but haven't seen it yet.
Will be interested to see the Little Company carrier too... I heard they were working on one last year.
Thanks :-)
There really were a lot of carriers, and new carriers, and new developments of older carriers. I'll be interested to see how many of them get into shops.
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