IQALUIT
After being in business for almost a year and a half, Arctic Cotton has started a website.

The family behind Arctic Cotton, Brad Chambers and Angela Pepper, with their one-year-old son Alec and three-year-old daughter Elise, stand in front of their inventory at their home business located in Iqaluit. The cloth diaper and baby supply company recently launched its website and online store. - photo provided by Arctic Cotton

Co-owner Brad Chambers told News/North it was a way to reach other communities outside of Iqaluit.

"It also provides people information about cloth diapers," he said from his home office in Apex.

"For people to go online, see what they want and get us to deliver, makes us more accessible.

"We really want to support people with young children."

While Arctic Cotton doesn't expect to severely impact the sales of other retailers in the area, Chambers said he's been pleased by sales so far. However, he understands it'll take time for them to grow. "It's going to take years and years before it penetrates the market and the minds of lots of people," he said. "But there's definitely a lot of cloth diaper users here."

Chambers said Amazon's recent decision to change its free shipping policy to remote locations in Nunavut has also made his company more competitive. "It may slightly help our business in the future, but it doesn't really make us jump for joy because we want people to get what they need at good prices," he said, adding Amazon wasn't the first retailer to stop free or flat-rate shipping to communities in the territory. "It happens quite regularly, where they catch on to the fact that they're losing heaps of money because that kind of word gets around fast."

As well as cloth diapers, Arctic Cotton carries maternity clothes, bibs, change mats, diaper bags, baby carriers and a variety of children's items. "Sunglasses are very popular right now, as are books from local publishers," said Chambers.

The company currently offers free shipping to its customers in Iqaluit for purchases totalling more than $50. However, the website has only been up for little more than a week and the company is still in the process of uploading all of their items. Chambers was careful to emphasize that cloth diapers were the main reason why he and his wife started the company.

"It's the way that people are really going to save the biggest amount of money and it's also good for the environment," he said. "Everything else is just to try and fill out the opportunity for things people need, at affordable prices for their babies."

When it comes to suppliers, Chambers said he and his wife built up relationships along the way but their business model isn't designed to make "heaps of money." While the company does recover its costs, Chambers admitted operating out of their home and his status as a stay-at-home dad were what kept costs low.

"We wouldn't be viable if we had to get business space," he said bluntly. "It wouldn't work any other way."

Arctic Cotton did not apply to any financing organizations such as a business development corporation or private bank.

"We try to keep costs low," Chambers said, explaining the biggest expense was invested in his inventory, which was slowly built up from the company's start.

"It's not a massive cost so far."

The challenge for Arctic Cotton right now is making sure their word-of-mouth marketing continues to reach people in the community who haven't heard of them yet.

"It's really does take time," he said.

Like many other businesses in the city, Chambers said there are certain products that can only be brought in by sealift and there is a large cost to transporting those bigger items.

"We do have high chairs, swings, bouncer chairs, but we don't have them in great quantity," he said, citing lack of space. "And we can't actually do southern prices on them."

Chambers said Arctic Cotton's biggest lesson so far has been realizing how much stuff is out there and how selective he and his wife have to be.

"You have to be a smart shopper," he said.

While the prospect of cloth diapers can be daunting for many new parents, Chambers said it was important to provide a local, easily approachable, alternative choice for families with huge potential savings that could quickly add up.

"It could be as much as $2,000," he said, estimating for one child.

"And if you use them for two or three kids, you could easily save $5,000."

He stressed that Arctic Cotton is not trying to compete with existing businesses in the city, but rather developing their own niche, offering specific products and introducing new varieties.

"They're not really the same cloth diapers that their parents or grandparents have used," he said.

"There's tons of fun colours, prints and breathable, waterproof fabrics with high-absorbency. There's all kinds of new things out there. People need to realize it's not an old-fashioned thing."

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