Susie Pearson (with 13-month-old Hannah) feels cloth diapers are better for babies and the environment. She started The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe when the store she bought from went out of business, and has found a ready market. CREDIT: Jean levac, the Ottawa citizen

Missing the drop-off from her diaper service turned into a business opportunity for Susie Pearson.

Two years ago, the mother of two was forced to launder the cloth diapers that were to have been collected. "That's when I decided that I didn't want to pay $20 a week for the service. All it meant was that I would do a few extra loads of laundry.''

She says she had always intended to use cloth, rather than disposable, diapers because she was concerned about the negative environmental impact of disposables. ("People are surprised to hear that it takes 500 years for a single-use diaper to disintegrate.'') She also preferred freshly laundered, soft cloth for her children and expected the reusable route to be more economical. To date, she has spent a total of $400 on diapering her two daughters, aged three and one.

"A lot of people don't realize that cloth diapers are still around or think of safety pins and rubber pants the way it used to be 30 years ago,'' Ms. Pearson says. "It's not like that at all. Diapers have come a long way. And it isn't a lot of work -- just a load of laundry.''

Styles include one-piece diapers with snap waterproof panties attached, pocket diapers with removal hemp inserts, and pre-folds with a variety of covers. Prices run from $30 a dozen to almost the same amount for a single Cadillac-style diaper/pant combo.

In the early stages, Ms. Pearson purchased diapers from a store in the Glebe. "When it went out of business two years ago, I thought there must be other parents like me who prefer to use cloth. That's when I started my business.''

Funding The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe on her credit card, she invested $5,000 in a selection of styles of fitted diapers and covers, plus such "natural parenting products'' as breast-feeding aids and sling carriers, often items that she used and had had trouble finding locally.

"I didn't go to the bank for money because I wasn't sure of myself, and using my credit card was the quickest way.''

A former software developer, Ms. Pearson prepared the company website herself. Online sales are brisk, she says. She estimates that half her business is Internet generated, although she is concentrating on the local market for now. She has a once-a-week storefront, an indoor booth at the Stittsville Flea Market, on Sundays, and gives regular workshops to expectant and new parents at the Dovercourt Community Centre.

"That's a good compromise for me,'' Ms. Pearson says, adding that part of her motivation has been to build a business she can operate from home, so that she can be with her daughters, Maddy and Hannah. "It would be hard to compete with so many people selling cloth diapers online if I had to deal with the high overheads of regular retail space. This way, I can manage and people can come to see the products if they prefer.''

As part of her strategy to encourage customers who had not previously considered cloth over disposables, she carries a selection of "mainstream products, leather baby shoes, car seat covers, shopping cart seat covers, things that aren't readily available from places like Wal-Mart.''

She also set up a loan program last fall, to give parents still skeptical about the cloth route the chance to try a selection of styles for two weeks at the same rate as a diaper service. "This way, parents borrow a stash of diapers and can try every kind of cloth diaper and cover that I sell. They see for themselves what is involved in using cloth diapers and the kind that they prefer.''

This service has proved extremely popular, the 30-year-old entrepreneur says. Most clients ("all but two, so far'') have bought various products after the test run.

"I've had enough requests for the loan program from outside Ottawa that I'm going to try implementing it nationwide,'' she says. Eventually she is considering an affiliate, franchise-style operation for The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe, with particular emphasis on the loan program. "This is something different. Nobody else is doing it,'' she says. The out-of-town pilot will be in Stratford, Ont., with her sister -- also a cloth diaper advocate -- at the helm.

Another difference in her business approach is her determination to use a portion of profits -- The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe was in the black after the first year of operation -- to help children in need. After six months, the loan-program diapers are sold on e-Bay and the proceeds donated to Aid for Orphans, a charity that collects nursery supplies for orphanages in Eastern Europe.

"Replacing the loan-program diapers regularly also ensures that they are in good shape when people get them. It's good for everyone.''

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The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe

Location: 15 Feldspar Crescent, Stittsville

Telephone: 1 (866) USE CLOTH (873-2568)

Website: www.extraordinary babyshoppe.com

What's best about the job: Meeting like-minded people, who often become friends.

What's worst: The cut-rate marketing aspect. Many companies mark cloth diapers below cost, online.

Biggest challenges: Convincing people to use cloth.

Profile of Susie Pearson.