RAYONIER REVVING UP NOVATHIN PRODUCTION NovaThin is the company's first product in the engineered absorbent material (EAM) market. Other disposable hygiene products are under development by Rayonier scientists and are in various stages of pre-commercial development. Overseeing all aspects of this growing business, including research, marketing and operations, is Kent Kvaal, EAM general manager, who formerly was global manager of the nonwoven hygienic business of the H.B. Fuller Company.
Also joining the company recently to further the effort are Mary Jo Lilly, marketing director, Performance Fibers, 12 years experience, most recently as group manager for global superabsorbent sales; Harry Chmielewski, principal scientist, 21 years experience in the design of absorbent core products; Paul Ducker, principal scientist, 15 years experience developing disposable hygiene products; Roberto Gomez, technical marketing manager, whose 20 years in the industry include extensive product development experience; and Andrew Burnes, senior scientist, 16 years experience in nonwovens and airlaid material product design and development.
BUCKEYE OPENS NC PLANT; CONSUMER PRODUCTS TARGET MARKET FORMER CONFAB EXEC WIESE GIVEN EXTENSION AT COTT BBA SELECTS IPROCURE AS E-BUSINESS SOLUTION The iProcure marketplace integrates with Datastream's asset management software, which BBA Nonwovens has been using for more than two years. This software lets BBA Nonwovens track and manage its capital assets across many North American manufacturing locations. iProcure will help the company further drive down its operating costs by driving out non-value-added activities in the entire supply chain.
HARTMANN-CONCO MOVING TO SC THIS MONTH "This is where they expect to grow in the future," said Jacques Lemmetti, president and chief executive officer in Rock Hill. "The Sunbelt is a lot easier to attract people. It's got a good family environment and overall good business conditions." The move will add $20 million to the amount of business managed from Rock Hill, making it a $50-million-per-year enterprise, he said. The company employs 8,630 worldwide and reported $1 billion in sales in 2000. Products include baby care, feminine and incontinence hygiene, wound management and diagnostics.
DIAPERS KEY PART OF PRESSURE-SENSITIVE TAPE BUSINESS Baby diaper and adult incontinence tapes, ranked third in value and the primary category by volume, are mature and are forecast to see slowing growth. Other significant medical products include dressings and wound-closure products and surgical incise drapes.
NEW CONSUMER PRODUCTS CONFERENCE SETTING A VISION The Conference, the first of its kind in the industry, will focus on absorbents, personal care and household products. Among the end-use applications that will be explored are baby diapers, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products, household wipes and filters for household and automotive applications.
"The beneficiary of Vision 2002 will be the consumer products companies and nonwovens suppliers that comprise this industry," according to INDA President Ted Wirtz. "The Conference will have an impact that will be felt well beyond the three days everyone will gather in New Orleans and companies that have the insight to participate in it will be investing in the future of their industry."
For further details: www.inda.org, or call INDA at 919-233-1282.
INDUSTRY TO RECOGNIZE TOP CONSUMER PRODUCTS The criteria for the award: A consumer product introduced to the market in 2000-2001; and the finished product must incorporate a nonwoven fabric as a key component. The products categories include, but are not limited to, baby diapers, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products, household wipes and filters for household and automotive applications.
Nominations are now being accepted on these new products. A list of nominations from the industry will be presented to INDA's Technical Advisory Board later this month. TAB will then select five finalists and invite each to attend the Vision 2002 Consumer Products Conference in January to make a 5-10 minute presentation on the product. The attendees at the Conference will then have the opportunity to vote for their choice of the best new consumer product of the year and the award will be presented during the Conference.
To nominate a consumer end product that fits the above criteria please forward your comments, including a contact person at the nominated company, to Michael Jacobsen, Visionary Awards project coordinator, at mjacobsen@inda.org or mail to 22 Paterson Avenue, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Companies may nominate themselves. See www.inda.org for more information.
Deadline for nominations is September 30, 2001.
P&G POSTS FIRST LOSS IN EIGHT YEARS At the same time, Chief Executive A.G. Lafley told analysts that the company may cut the prices of its Luvs diapers. P&G is also gearing up to launch a new Pampers diaper line with different features for children of different ages.
"They've got their arms around the problems,'' said David Kolpak, managing director at Victory Capital Management. "Their problems were that their prices were out of line with the lower priced competition and they fell behind on the innovation curve."
PARAGON REPORTS STRONG QUARTERLY RESULTS Net sales for the quarter were $347.2 million, compared to net sales of $254.8 million for the same period last year, an increase of 36%.
Commenting on the quarter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Riordan said, "Our sales have continued to grow along with our ramp-up of new capacity, temporary outsourcing solutions, and increased productivity from equipment enhancements. We will invest over $50 million this year to allow us to serve the growing needs of our customers for high-quality store brand diaper and training pant products. We expect to have all of this additional capacity fully operational by the end of the year."
Paragon Trade Brands is a manufacturer of store brand infant disposable diapers in the United States and Canada as well as a supplier of diapers and other absorbent personal care products in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and China.
K-C EARNINGS FALL; DIAPER PRODUCTION SHORTFALL BLAMED Kimberly-Clark said sales rose 2% to $3.53 billion from $3.46 billion and would have increased more if not for weak currencies in many of its foreign markets. The company also said U.S. demand for Cottonelle toilet paper and European demand for Huggies diapers outstripped capacity, causing lost sales. The company said it has solved the problems with the addition of a new tissue machine in Jenks, OK, and greater diaper production.
DRUG STORES HOLDING OWN AGAINST DISCOUNTERS IN DIAPER WARS With annual volume of $4.2 billion, diapers not only dwarf other baby care segments but they form the second-largest nonfood category in the mass market as well. In drug stores, dollar sales of diapers and training pants were flat, as aggressive pricing offset a drop in unit volume. In fact, unit sales of diapers fell in all three mass channels of distribution but dropped the least in drug stores (4.7%), according to IRI. Unit volume in supermarkets plummeted 13.8% and, in a rare poor showing by discounters, declined 6.4% in that trade class.
Brand data reveals that weak sales of mid-price diapers and training pants brought down the overall segment. Products at both extremes of the price spectrum performed well. Sales of private label products jumped 18.9% to $788 million, growing faster than any of the top 14 national brands. The increase gave store brands an 18.9% share of category volume, second only to Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Ultratrim.
One manufacturer that strives to market high-quality private label disposable diapers and training pants is Paragon Trade Brands. Paragon is the leading North American supplier of store brand diapers, accounting for more than 75% of the continent's private label diaper market and controlling about 20% of the total diaper business in the United States.
Still, national brands remain crucial to the diaper subcategory. As measured by growth rate, the national brands performing closest to private label products in the IRI tracking period were two high-end lines - Pampers Premium from Procter & Gamble (up 17.9% to $265 million) and Huggies Supreme (up 16.8% to $193 million). Among top category suppliers, every vendor saw sales decline in the IRI tracking period except two small players: Universal Converter (up 3.5%) and Absormex SA de CV (up 309.8%).
STORE BRANDS REMAIN KEY PLAYERS IN FEMININE HYGIENE In addition, store brands account for the fifth-highest volume in both the tampon and sanitary napkin segments, with the 16.2% advance in private label tampon sales being the
second-largest gain by any brand in the segment. All told, private label products in the three categories accounted for $327.7 million in mass market sales, or slightly less than 12% of $2.8 billion in overall volume.
K-C REINVENTING OLD FAVORITE FOR NEW MARKET "If we have a large share of a business and it's not growing, we ask ourselves what we can do to make the market grow," said Tom Falk, Kimberly-Clark's president and chief operating officer. Product pioneer success stories include Clorox's disposable disinfectant wipes; the Swiffer electrostatic dust broom from Procter & Gamble; and Febreeze, an odor-eliminating fabric spray, also from P&G.
With Rollwipes, Kimberly-Clark hopes that it has created a market for moistened toilet paper. Competitors are on board already. Five months after Kimberly-Clark announced Rollwipes, Procter & Gamble bought a similar product called Moist Mates and renamed it Charmin Fresh Mates. Moist Mates had been around for years, but its maker lacked national distribution and marketing.
Kimberly-Clark has been particularly successful in developing product categories. Besides creating Kleenex tissues, the company was the first to put toilet paper on a roll and the first to market feminine and incontinence products.
Its most recent innovation -- Pull-Ups toilet-training pants -- were launched in 1989. Pull-Ups created a category that is separate from traditional disposable diapers, and Kimberly-Clark controls 76 percent of the new market. Last year, the company sold $845 million worth of Pull-Ups products, which now include training, youth and swim pants.
Kimberly-Clark is hoping for similar successes with its Rollwipes. Like it did with Pull-Ups, Kimberly-Clark took an existing product -- moistened and scented diaper wipes -- and reinvented it.
"We realized that 25 percent of sales for wipes were for households that didn't have a diaper-aged child in the household," Mr. Falk said.
FOR THE LAZY CLEANER, A WIPE FOR ALL OCCASIONS Throw out those germy sponges. Forget about soap and water. Consumer-products companies such as Unilever , Clorox Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. are rushing to develop new generations of wipes -- a product once reserved for babies' behinds and lobster suppers.
"Almost anything that can be made a wipe has been over the last six months," says Tom Vierhile, executive editor of Productscan Online, which tracks new products. About 55 new wipe products hit store shelves in 2000, and 30 more have joined them so far this year, he says.
Facial wipes barely existed as a skin-care category two years ago. Now, they account for 10% of skin-care shelf space at Duane Reade, a New York drugstore chain. If Fluffy is looking flaky, there are dander-zapping cat wipes by Pal Supplies Inc. For Buster, there's a dog-bath wipe from International Veterinary Sciences. Armor All's Protectant Wipes are designed to buff interior car vinyl.
Marketers latched on to the idea after noticing how people appropriated baby wipes for uses other than child care. In 1998, 36% of baby wipes were purchased by consumers who either didn't have children or had kids older than four years old -- and thus out of diapers, according to ACNielsen.
Keith Milks, a 30-year-old Marine Corps staff sergeant in Arlington, Va., always takes baby wipes with him on missions and training runs because he might have to go without a shower for up to a week. The tip gets passed along to the new Marines. And Marti Fathers, the "housemother" at an Atlanta strip club, says her dancers go through a lot of wipes. "I buy a ton of them," she says, so the dancers can freshen up in between performances.
Marketers will have to spend aggressively to transform niche products into household essentials. P&G spent more than $22 million to advertise its Mr. Clean wipes in 2000, according to Competitive Media Reporting. In return, Americans spent $31 million on Mr. Clean wipes in the past year at supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchants, says Information Resources Inc. Unilever is handing out samples of its antibacterial Lever 2000 Refreshing Wipes at baseball games and in movie theaters, attached to popcorn bags.
FEDS CONSIDER TARIFF INCREASE FOR DIAPERS, BEDDING PADS The NCC enjoys an antitrust exemption specifically granted to it by the U.S. Congress so that it can establish classifications for virtually all products that are transported by contract trucking firms in less-than-truckload (LTL) quantities. Trucking companies use these classifications for negotiating the tariffs that they charge when hauling LTL shipments and, generally speaking, the higher the NCC classification the higher the tariff.
INDA was contacted by NCC staff earlier this year with a request for information on disposable diapers, diaper liners and diaper liners. According to NCC staff, data had been submitted by at least one trucking company indicating that the Class 100 rating assigned to these products was outdated, and should be increased to Class 175.
INDA provided information to the NCC demonstrating that, if any increase was warranted, it would be from the current Class 100 status to Class 110. Nevertheless, the Classification Panel that met in San Diego voted to docket a proposal that would change the current Class 100 rating to Class 125. It is this proposal that INDA will argue against in November. For more information, call Peter Mayberry, INDA's Director of Government Affairs, at 703-538-8804; pmayberry@inda.org.
CPSC CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION The primary significance to the nonwovens industry is that Chairman Brown was an avid supporter of national flammability standards for upholstered furniture, and INDA has advocated that such a standard should allow use of fire-resistant interlinings. While Commissioner Gall has been critical of the need for such a standard - and could have been counted on to stifle work on its development should she have become Chairman, it remains to be seen how President Bush's next nominee will view the issue.
BRITISH GIRL REPORTEDLY DIES FROM TSS Doctors and hospital staff thought the victim, Kayleigh Jones-Martell, was suffering from food poisoning or a virus when the youngster collapsed at school, an inquest was told. Three days later Kayleigh, of Acklam, Cleveland, died in an intensive care ward after developing blood poisoning triggered by the product.
The tragedy led Middlesbrough coroner Michael Sheffield yesterday to urge the Government to review safety notices on the packaging amid fears the message is not getting through.
K-C COMPLETES INTEGRATION INTO K-C TAIWAN CMPC BUILDING ITS OWN DIAPER PLANT IN CHILE In 2000 CMPC started the commercialization of Babysec trademark in Chile, and imported diapers from their plants in Argentina and Uruguay. CMPC's stated goal is to sell to the medium and lower sectors, and not to compete with P&G's Pampers in the higher sector. Currently CMPC is undertaking a $350 million investment plan; $250 million will be invested in Chile and $100 million in their operations in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
P&G WRAPS UP EUROPEAN ALWAYS COUPON BLITZ The focus of the promotion was to promote new longer wings for extra security at night and complements the brand's other marketing initiatives, which educate women about their body temperature. The mailing also offered a Driving Challenge when respondents can call the toll-free number.
EC COMMITTEE CONSIDERS GENETICALLY MODIFIED COTTON NO RISK The CSD concluded there was no reason to believe that the genetic changes introduced in the two lines of genetically modified cottons for which authorizations are pending could result in the formation of GM cotton fibers that will be different than their non-GM counterparts. The SSC considers that GM products do not present additional risk in intimate contact with the skin, vaginal mucosa, endometrium or other tissues as compared to products from non-genetically modified cotton. Nonetheless, experts recommend that if the use of genetically modified plant products are considered for use in medical and hygiene cotton products, risk assessments should be carried out on a case-by-case basis.
B-TO-B EXCHANGE ADDS SCA HYGIENE AS FIRST SUPPLIER MEMBER "We believe that future commercial success will be predicated on increasing levels of collaboration between us as supplier and our retail customers. The WWRE is offering both the forum and the tools for this collaborative approach," comments Stefan Angwald, president of SCA Hygiene Products. "We are proud of being the first supplier of the WWRE and thereby proving that we are willing to play our role as a leading European Hygiene Products company."
SCA Hygiene Products is part of the SCA Group and one of Europe's leading manufacturers of hygiene products for Consumer, Away From Home and incontinence use. SCA Hygiene had sales in 2000 exceeding $3 billion Euro. The company operates in more than 40 countries worldwide, and is the parent company for important hygiene brands such as Zewa, Edet, Velvet, Libero, Libresse, Tena and Tork.
NEW PAKISTANI FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT LAUNCHED TOM JONES AND INCONTINENCE: A TRUE STORY "It was midway through 'Sex Bomb' that the first pair of knickers landed on my head: so big that they covered my eyes and prevented me from seeing the 67-year-old gyrating on the stage. On examination I found it wasn't a black lacy or leopard print pair, but a large white pair of incontinence pants, baggier than any Bridget Jones knickers and elaborately signed by about 20 different people across the plastic-coated gusset. "You're supposed to throw them on," a woman prodded me from behind, and, as instructed, I hurled them into the crowd to land on someone else's head.
Back home after sitting, standing, waving and singing through a Tom Jones concert 20 meters from the gyrating singer, it's these knickers that seem to say most about the singer's appeal - and sexiness in general. Even when the plumbing's stopped working (which I'm not saying it has for Mr. Jones), even when your pelvic thrusts are looking like abdominal spasms, or your scissor kicks only stretch as high as your knee, if you've got the energy you can still be a real tiger in the bedroom."
Patent Review
Air Permeable Absorbent Article Having a Hydrophobic Foam Backsheet Layer
Absorbent Incontinence Pads
Air Permeable Absorbent Article Having A Hydrophobic Foam Backsheet Layer
Cloth-Like Breathable Disposable Absorbent Brief With Refastening Means
THAT'S ALL FOR THIS MONTH To have your company news included in this newsletter, send it via email to mjacobsen@inda.org by the first working day of each month.
This summer marked the first full season of Rayonier's production of NovaThin absorbent cores at its new 12,000-ton per year, $15 million facility in Jesup, GA. The plant, which reached start-up phase well ahead of the third-quarter target, began shipping product to customers in June. NovaThin absorbent cores were developed by Rayonier scientists for use in diapers, feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products. NovaThin cores have gained acceptance because of their thinness, absorbency, comfort and cost-effectiveness.
Buckeye Technologies started production this summer in Mount Holly, NC of what it claims is the world's largest airlaid nonwovens factory. The $100 million machine in Mount Holly, which began operating in late July, can produce 50,000 tons annually and joins an existing 12,000 ton capacity machine at the plant. Among the target markets for the new capacity: feminine hygiene pads, disposable diapers, adult incontinence products, baby wipes, moist tissues, and household cleaning products.
Buckeye now boasts an annual capacity of about 132,000 tons of airlaid nonwovens material. Buckeye has other airlaid machines in Delta, British Columbia, Canada; Cork, Ireland; and Steinfurt, Germany.
As Cott Corporation begins its fourth year of a turnaround, its board of directors announced that Frank Weise, president and chief executive officer, has agreed to a contract extension through June 2003. Prior to joining Cott in June 1998, Weise was chairman of the board of Confab Inc. a leading manufacturer of retailer branded feminine hygiene, incontinent and baby diaper products. He also held executive positions at both Campbell Soup and Procter & Gamble.
BBA Nonwovens has selected Datastream Systems' iProcure as its automated industrial procurement solution. The iProcure network claims more than 60 suppliers offering more than five million industrial parts. iProcure is part of the Datastream Network, a comprehensive offering of products and services that enable companies to acquire, maintain and manage their capital assets with maximum efficiency.
The U.S. corporate headquarters of bandage, feminine hygiene and adult incontinence maker Hartmann-Conco in Libertyville, IL is moving to Rock Hill, SC this month. The company plans to invest an additional $300,000 in machinery at the facility.
U.S. production of pressure-sensitive products reached an estimated 16.3 billion sq. yards, valued at $11.8 billion in 2000, and will continue to grow at relatively robust rates over the net five years, according to a newly released study by Kline & Company, an international consulting firm based in Little Falls, NJ. The research study, "Pressure-Sensitive Materials, Products and Systems," states that the market for pressure-sensitive products has grown at an average annual rate of 8.5% by volume and 5% in value over the last seven years.
The global nonwovens industry will present its vision of the current and future states of the consumer products industry as part of the inaugural Vision 2002 Consumer Products Conference. Sponsored by INDA, Vision 2002 is scheduled for January 21-23, 2002 at the Hotel Intercontinental in New Orleans, LA.
In conjunction with the Vision 2002 Consumer Products Conference (see item above), INDA is looking to recognize and award the top new consumer products of the past year that utilize nonwoven fabrics in some manner. Now, INDA is asking the industry to be a part of the process by nominating deserving new consumer products.
Procter & Gamble early last month reported its first quarterly loss in eight years after paying for massive job cuts and other efforts to improve its food, fabric-care and cosmetics lines. The company posted a net loss of $320 million for its fourth quarter. In the year-earlier period, the company made a profit of $516 million. Core earnings, which exclude restructuring items, rose to $837 million, from $777 million.
Paragon Trade Brands reported a 40% increase in net sales for the second quarter ended July 31, to $179.8 million from $128.6 million for the second quarter of 2000. Earnings from continuing operations before non-recurring items for the second quarter of 2001 were $10.9 million, compared to $4.8 million for the second quarter of 2000.
Kimberly-Clark reported early last month that net income for the second quarter fell 4.4% in the face of higher energy costs and inability to meet demand for toilet paper and disposable diapers. The company said net income was $415.4 million, compared to $434.3 million a year earlier.
From Chain Drug Review: With discounters encroaching on drug store business, the baby care category has been a breath of fresh air. According to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), drug stores have outperformed their discount and food store rivals of late in the diaper, baby powder and baby oil categories.
A recent published report finds that while private label products play a significant role in a number of health and personal care categories, in few areas do they perform as well as they do in feminine hygiene. According to brand rankings from Information Resources Inc. for the 12 months ended March 25, private label products, in the aggregate, are by far the top-selling brands in the medicinal treatments segment of the feminine hygiene business, bringing in annual sales nearly $90 million higher than the No. 2 brand. Their 11.1% increase in volume for the period was one of the largest gains made by any brand in the sector.
From the Dallas Morning News (August 25)
When Kimberly-Clark Corp. set out to develop Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes, it didn't want to develop a brand. The Irving-based company wanted to create a new product category. It's a strategy many companies are adopting in the hunt for new customers and increased sales.
From The Wall Street Journal (August 31, 2001):
Based on an August 6 vote taken in San Diego by a Classification Panel of the National Classification Committee (NCC), the NCC will consider an increase in permissible trucking tariffs for disposable diapers, diaper liners, and bedding pads when it meets in suburban Washington, D.C. on November 6. Fortunately, however, based on data developed by INDA, the NCC will be considering a rate that is significantly lower than originally proposed. But INDA believes that the rate to be voted on during the next NCC meeting is still unjustifiably high, and will argue against it in November.
Ann Brown, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced on August 8 that she will resign her position and will be leaving the Commission by November 1 to form a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting safer consumer products. This move was somewhat unexpected considering that the Senate Commerce Committee voted on August 2 not to endorse President Bush's nomination of CPSC Commissioner Mary Sheila Gall to replace Brown as the new Chairman, a move that will assuredly prevent Commissioner Gall from becoming Chairman and will require that President Bush name a new nominee for the position.
A British schoolgirl, aged 13, reportedly became the youngest person in Britain to die from toxic shock syndrome after she used a tampon for the first time. Immediately following the mid-August incident, health groups called for warnings on feminine hygiene products to be updated.
Kimberly-Clark has completed the merger of S-K Corporation and Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation into one company, Kimberly-Clark Taiwan. With annual sales of more than $200 million, Kimberly-Clark Taiwan will be the country's second largest consumer products company. The Kimberly-Clark Taiwan Personal Care sector, which markets disposable baby diapers and feminine napkins under the Huggies and Kotex brands, will be led by President and Managing Director Frank Lin, who previously served as Managing Director of S-K Corporation. The Family Care sector, which will market consumer tissue products under the brand names of Scott and Kleenex will be headed by President and Managing Director Meiling Chiang, who previously served as Managing Director of Taiwan Scott.
South American diaper maker CMPC has revealed plans to build a disposable diaper factory in Santiago within the next year. Until 1998 CMPC, in partnership with Procter and Gamble, manufactured Babysan disposable diapers, but when they sold their share of the company to P&G they agreed no to participate of the diaper market for two years.
Throughout the past summer Procter & Gamble ran an aggressive redemption mailing campaign to drive sales of its feminine hygiene brand Always Ultra, as part of its ongoing battle with rival products from Kimberly-Clark and SCA. The campaign, which included an opt-out box to receive more information, tracked coupons until the end of August. Always donated 20p, the value of the coupon, to cancer charity Marie Curie.
In an opinion given earlier this summer, a European Commission Scientific Steering Committee concluded that the use in medical products and hygiene products of genetically modified cotton was not a risk for health, even when used in feminine hygiene products, in baby or adult incontinence products and other garments. This opinion is important as the European Commission must give its view on two requests for authorization and marketing in the EU that have been pending since 1997.
The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), a business-to-business exchange, recently announced that SCA Hygiene Products, one of Europe's leading manufacturers of hygiene products, has joined the Exchange as its first supplier member.
Pan Industries (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, last month launched a feminine hygiene product named 'Trust' in the local market. Launching the product, the company's chief executive said that the product is manufactured from hygienic raw material using European technology and that the quality of the product is in conformance with the international standards and is marketed at an affordable price. He said that Pan plans to export its product to other countries. He further said that company had got an order to Dubai for the import of a large quantity of feminine hygiene products from Pakistan.
This little story is excerpted from a Scottish tabloid. It sort of fits in this newsletter:
Applicant: Procter & Gamble
Abstract: The present invention relates to absorbent articles such as under arm sweat pads, bandages, sanitary napkins, panty liners, disposable diapers or adult incontinence products which are air permeable and comprise at least one layer of hydrophobic open celled foam.
Pub. No.: EP 1113772 ; Appl. Data: EP 99968620 1999 09 07
Applicant: Japan Absorbent Technology Institute; Toyoeizai Co., Ltd.
Abstract: An absorbent incontinence pad is provided with a liquid impervious air permeable back sheet and an absorbent unit partly covered by the back sheet, wherein the absorbent unit has a nonwoven fabric substrate, an absorbent zone formed by a plurality of highly absorbent layers extending in the form of bands on the surface of the non-woven fabric substrate and an air permeable zone where no such highly absorbent layer exists, which has sufficiently adequate properties to meet incontinence requirements and provides a comfortable feeling during use
Pub. No.: EP 1116479; Appl. Data: EP 01300261 2001 01 12
Applicant: Procter & Gamble
Abstract: The present invention relates to absorbent articles such as under arm sweat pads, bandages, sanitary napkins, panty liners, disposable diapers or adult incontinence products which are air permeable and comprise at least one layer of hydrophobic open celled foam.
Pub. No.: EP 1113772; Appl. Data: EP 99968620 1999 09 07
Applicant: Confab Services, AG, Glaug, Frank
Abstract: An adult brief garment for use in controlling incontinence is provided. The brief has a chassis which includes a front portion, back portion and an interposed crotch portion. The chassis consists of a fluid-impervious, cloth-like laminate along the central region of the chassis and hydrophobic, cloth-like, nonwoven side panels at each side of the central region. A liquid absorbent core is positioned over the central region. Plural fastening tapes are applied to the side panels at the back portion of the chassis. The front portion of the chassis includes soft, flexible landing zones for releasable receipt of the tapes to hold the brief in place. Each landing zone takes up a substantial portion of its associated side panel and contiguous portions of the central region of the chassis and each includes a myriad of small (e. g., micro-sized) apertures or holes therein for breathability, e.g., to allow moisture vapor to pass therethrough. The sides within the crotch section of the brief are elasticized to fit around the wearer's legs and prevent the egress of urine therefrom. The top or waist section of the front panel and the top or waist section of the back panel are also elasticized to hold the brief snugly about the waist of the wearer.
Pub. No.: EP 1113773; Appl. Data: EP 00932519 2000 05 18
The INDA Consumer Products e-Report is sent monthly to all interested subscribers. Please forward this newsletter on to anyone involved in this business. Email to cgarcia@inda.org if you would like to be included in our monthly e-mailing. Similarly, if you wish to be taken off of this list please email cgarcia@inda.org and your request will be honored promptly.
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