After shopping for adult diapers, you may have some questions as to how big the absorbent products industry is. Assuage your curiosity with this Insight 2008 conference brochure. 

A little investigative reading here and you will discover that there are quite a few people pushing their wares and promoting any number of likely and unlikely sounding innovations in the field of absorbent underwear and all its cousins. With $32 billion dollars spent annually on various incontinence costs in the U.S. alone, it is little wonder that this venue's roster was packed with both speakers and hawkers.

The program's presentation abstracts read like a catalog of puns and euphemisms, mostly to do with keeping human bottoms clean and dry. Among promises for a better bottomed future, there was a particularly intriguing offering called the "vacuum-dry diaper". This title conjures up a sort of reverse image of those old shower cap styled hair dryers women used in the '60s. You know, the type where a long hose (much like the one on a vacuum cleaner) puffed a plastic bonnet up with warm air from a small motor unit which a woman could sling from her shoulder while she continued uninterrupted with her housework. What could this "vacuum-dry diaper" possibly look like? Would there be a hose and puffy plastic pants involved? Unfortunately at this point, the answer to this eludes most who missed the presentation.

There is an amusing Fred Flintstone quality to the "vacuum-dry diaper" abstract which promised attendees a view of some "handmade prototypes". It also promised a comparison with a new Pampers product which was currently being "pilot tested". Overall, the reader gets a strong sense there is a segment of this industry that is flying by the seat of its pants, probably not an altogether bad thing considering the industry's focus.

For your own eyes:


For more information, you can follow this link.