Why I hate Sustainablebabyish Sloomb wool...

Okay, okay... maybe hate is a strong word. Strongly dislike? Am very frustrated with? Would never ever buy wool from again? Insert whichever one you prefer, but I feel like any of them would do.

To be fair-ish (I love using 'ish' and it seems to fit here) the product itself is great. WHEN it fits, WHEN it matches the description and WHEN it finally comes in. Erin (owner/founder/whatever) of Sustainablebabyish/Sloomb, picks beautiful colors. Hands down gorgeous colors of wool longies, shorties, covers and underwoolies. Just be prepared to take some TOPAMAX migraine meds before and during the ordering process.

To start with my rant, we will start at the beginning... The lovely ordering process. All her wool is preorder. Because, you know, it is so easy to guess what size your baby is going to fit into when the wool gets to you. Babies change so very much in a three month period. What I THOUGHT my son would be wearing is actually too small now and I just wasted $64.95 on a pair of wool longies that no longer fit him. Now you have a choice. You CAN send them back to Erin and exchange them for something that fits (if you can get ahold of her, but that is another paragraph) but you are now waiting another month before you get those in hand. Frustrating, for sure. What other cloth diaper company does those kinds of pre-orders on the majority of their items? I can 't think of another one, but I would love to know if there is another one that does.

Continuing on the ordering... what can you order from Sustainablebabyish/Sloomb's site right now? Their diapers are pre-order, though those are made in the USA ("At this time" their site says, how soon until those are made in China?) so they arrive faster, seem to come more frequently and are easier (but not simple) to get some. Their wool (as stated above) is pre-order. Pins, snappi's, lanolin, diaper creams, wool liners, diaper liners, other brand flats, detergent, wool wash bars... basically OVER 70 items are sold out, no longer available or pre-order. If you are in the market for a Monkey Foot Designs bag or a baby carrier, you should be able to find one on Sloomb. But really, you'd be better off ordering from those companies directly.

As far as when they wool gets here... yeah... it has to get over from China, get through customs, get to Sloomb and then get to you. Pre-order dates are estimates. It has taken over a month after the pre-order dates for wool to get to Sloomb before it is even in a box on it's happy way to you. Do they fit when they get to you, finally? I hope so!

Oh, the fit of the wool. Time to hit that subject. Size charts are a guesstimate. According to Sloomb, knits aren't made to be the same length as other knits in the same line/batch of wool. I call crap on that. I think that they could be more selective in the inseam lengths and they choose not to be. Also, Sloomb says that they are made to be worn cuffed and even made to be worn as capri's and such. While I have seen people use them on taller kids as capri's (though most go to shorties for that) the vast majority of people I have talked to about it, prefer them to be worn un-cuffed. Look through Sloomb's customers pictures on Facebook and you will find nearly all of them are not cuffed. The Sloomb website's pictures also show no cuffed longies. You expect to get it to fit like is pictured. Keep dreaming though.

Back to the size charts... So, they are a guesstimate. You order wool and it might be a little big or a little small but you work around it. New wool pre-orders are up! YAY! You order the wool off of what you know the fit to be, right? You wait your weeks after weeks and when it finally gets to you, you are SHOCKED that the $400 or so dollars you dropped on wool is too SHORT! WHAT? You see, Sloomb got the wool in and the inseams are 2 inches (sometimes more, sometimes less... see pic below) too short. Did Erin at Sloomb feel the need to give anyone a heads up on their Facebook? Not at all. Why would any respectable company want to warn their customers that the wool is running short this batch and they might want to size up? Very unprofessional. It's a one time mistake, though... right? NOPE. Now, the next pre-orders come in. They are fitting like a few batches ago but not the most previous batch of wool. Does Sloomb give a head up that their wool is running bigger? No. But don't worry, you can cuff them, right? What about the wool covers, though? You can't cuff those, but those are also running bigger/smaller depending on the batch that you get. Grab some of the migraine meds, because you now need to send them back and here is the tricky part... getting ahold of Sloomb.

Inseam variance on longies of the same size:

Size difference in covers, though I didn't get a great picture. I have an inch difference in rise and on leg openings. These are pictured with the tops even but it might have been better to make the bottoms even:

So now you have to contact Sloomb. You go to their site and fill out the contact form. A week goes by. Then another. You send in another. It goes unanswered. You go to their Facebook and mention, "Hey, I sent you a few emails, can you get back to me?" You might get a response within another day or so. There are people that have tried for OVER a month to get ahold of Sloomb, only to have their orders being sent to the wrong address (what they were trying to contact them about) or now the stuff they wanted to exchange their ill-fitting wool for in no longer available. If you have been a longtime customer, I guess it is known to call Erin. Um, where does it say that on Sloomb's site? It doesn't. It says to fill out the contact form and they will get back to you. You shouldn't have to go to a company's Facebook page or dig around their Facebook page to find out that you need to call them. Again, to be fair-ish, when getting in contact with them, they are pleasant.

Sloomb does sell 'seconds' now and then on their site. Good luck getting some, though. Erin will post to the Facebook wall when there is some in and it gets devoured within minutes. There isn't a fair chance to order any. In fact, even regular stockings are posted there and things get snatched up so quickly. If you have your iPad next to you hitting 'refresh' every few minutes, maybe you will score what you need.

What it boils down to is that Sloomb fancies itself a small company. It is run by a one woman, in all intents and purposes. It wants to be considered a small company, but they have a HUGE customer demand. Over 40 other cloth diaper companies (some in other countries, even!) sell their product and I can only name a handful that have a few pieces in stock in their stores/sites (normally an odd size that isn't incredibly popular). The demand for Sloomb is gigantic. Sloomb NEEDS to hire some help. Hire someone for the office side of things to take calls, answer emails in a timely manner, etc. Having more in stock items would be nice. Having a much easier process of ordering would be nice. And especially, accurate size charts on the different batches of wool would be immensely helpful. However, Sloomb doesn't see the need for this/has said they will not change it and is not willing to budge on any of it. Fantastic, huh? Sloomb has hit the "big company status" of having their product no longer made in the USA. It is now made in China. Not that it CAN'T be made here, but that is something else Erin chooses to not change. In her words, "Having Sloomb made there supports the Chinese, the customs people..." Don't get me wrong, I do buy other things/diapers/items made in China. But hiding behind the true reason you have them made there isn't cool. She will give you a text book answer (probably copy and pasted) if you ask about them being made in China... "made in a socially and environmentally responsible knit house in China that are GOTS, Oko-Tex and ISO 9001:2000 certified...."and has said that she refuses to change it.

Check out other blogs, reviews and such before ordering from them. You should be able to find them pretty easily and will see that these aren't issues that only a few people are having. Hmm... I wonder why Sloomb won't request to be a part of Padded Tush Stats? Most likely because they know they would get horrid reviews and don't want the truth out about it. 165 other cloth diaper retailers are on it (the actually retailer has to ask to be put on) but for some, ahem, odd reason... Sloomb doesn't desire to be on it. Peculiar, I say.

If you still think the product is worth having, the easier route would be to order through another company that sells it. Luckily, some other companies WILL give a heads up when the wool is looking to err on a shorter/longer/smaller size. That speaks hugely of a company. Some choose not to do pre-orders which is nice. You can sign up for email alerts when they stock and you can get on and get what you need ordered. I have had amazing experiences ordering from Weedle Weedle, Nappies and More, and Ma Fleur de Lait. The latter one is in Canada, so be prepared to pay a little more for shipping unless there is a promotion going on.