CAÑON CITY, Colorado-Among Colorado's many natural blessings is an almost daily dose of high-intensity, high-altitude sunshine-over 300 days per year. The kind that can burn your skin nastily if you stay out more than just a few minutes without protection, but as well, the kind that makes solar panel manufacturers slobber on themselves.
Enter Erin Kimmett, founder and owner of one of America's largest cloth diaper manufacturing and wholesale companies, Thirsties, Inc. Long an advocate for less-impacting methods of modern living, Kimmett began Thirsties five years ago as a venture to supplement her husband's teaching income, to find an outlet for her incessant entrepreneurial spirit, and in large part to spread the news of the wonders of cloth diapering, both as a less-expensive means of diapering and as a way to drastically cut down on the environmental consequences of the omnipresent-and in her mind dangerous-disposable diaper.
Fast-forward the five-odd years since its inception, boasting a retailer roster of over 300 stores worldwide, and through all the struggles and hardships that any small business owner witnesses, Erin is still hard at it-the all too common platitude of "being a good steward of the planet" living deeply and with resounding truth in both her life and business ethic:
- 100% domestic manufacturing-check
- Utilizes American-made materials-check
- Purchases carbon credits to offset 100% of manufacturing and transport utilities-check
- Recycling of all used cardboard and paper-check
- 100% recycled cardboard and paper for new shipments-check
