Sunday, March 30, 2014

Subcultures

It still blows my mind how many micro-niches and subcultures there are out there. The most recent of these that has come into my sphere is cloth diapering crazies.

We have been using cloth since birth part time and then full time since about two months.



And it is actually going great (even though we are in a new solid food phase). An added bonus to the cost and environmental benefits has been how cute he looks in a diaper. He can be half dressed but fully stylin'.


Turns out though that there is a black market for limited edition prints and hard to find old styles. Diapers that last from birth to potty training cost about $20 on average but if you have the style from a few years ago it will sell for double or triple or more. A used diaper. For a hundred bucks.

And it goes deeper. Each of the popular brands has a cult following. People trade diapers like baseball cards until they have a full set of the prints released by that brand. I've stumbled into a few Facebook groups but get too freaked out by the fervor. And by the pricing. They all justify the outrageous expense by figuring that they can fleece some other sucker and sell it for what they bought it for. One brand only stocks a certain number of diapers each month and people stalk the website just hoping I get a hold of one. Used versions of some of thee go for hundreds of dollars.

I'm not entirely sure what my point is. I just don't have many people to share my flabbergastedness with. In some ways it makes me question my passion for things. There just isn't anything that I've been in to so deeply. No boy bands, no souvenir collection, no complete set of anything.

I think I'm glad that cloth diapers weren't what sparked that nutso in me but I hope it isn't because I lack passion in general.

Here is the closest I've come to craziness. We didn't need another diaper but my favorite brand released this fun print and I couldn't help it.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1 comment:

Alicia said...

Wow. This is AMAZING. I am in shock. LOVED this post. Made me giggle and feel connected to my friend so far away. But I think you are passionate about one thing: fact/cult finding on the internet. You have always learned about the most esoteric stuff on the web. Who are these diaper-collecting people?