Preemie Diaper and Protective Underwear products are finalists for Hygienix Innovation Award™ 2017

Vying for the prestigious prize are Advanced Absorbent Technologies’ Alyne Protective Underwear, Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies Little Snugglers Nano Preemie Diaper and Procter & Gamble’s Pampers Swaddler Preemie Diapers.

Each uses nonwoven/engineered fabrics in a novel, technically sophisticated and uniquely creative and expansive way to make their products more comfortable for infants or adults wearing them.

Selected by technical industry experts and members of INDA who serve on the Technical Advisory Board, the voting will next move to the attendees of Hygienix 2017 who will choose their favorite after seeing the products and hearing presentations o Nov. 7.

The awards presentation will take place on Nov. 9 at 12 p.m. and the event will also feature recognition of the winners of the INDA Lifetime Technical Achievement Award and the INDA Lifetime Service Award.

Last year’s Hygienix Innovation Award was presented to Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) for their Go! Pads, a banana fiber-based, low-cost feminine pad that sustainably delivers affordable hygiene for women and girls in Rwanda.

Hygienix Innovation Award Finalists

The finalist products were selected from the applications submitted for their creativity, novelty of approach, uniqueness and technical sophistication. They are:

• Advanced Absorbent Technologies’ Alyne Protective Underwear – This new product manages fluid absorption in protective underwear differently by using multiple layers of different superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) that absorb at different rates, from quick absorption to complete absorption without bulkiness. The SAP layers are diamond quilted in a pocketed structure, sandwiched between layers of polypropylene spunbond and then ultrasonically bonded together. This design can provide stability, excellent SAP absorbency management, thinness, dryness for more comfort and discretion that provides the wearer confidence through protection.
• Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies Little Snugglers Nano Preemie Diaper – Designed specifically for babies weighing less than two pounds, each diaper is hand inspected to protect these fragile babies. To promote healthy growth and development, the product has gentle, specially-sized fasteners coupled with a narrow and flexible absorbent pad, providing a flexible fit so that baby can be comfortably and appropriately positioned. The soft, smooth liner and gentle leg gathers can keep baby dry without irritating fragile, underdeveloped skin.
• Procter & Gamble Company’s Pampers Swaddler Preemie Diapers – The smallest babies can have the proper fit, tailored features and a soft touch with these diapers specially designed for premature infants with NICU nurses around the world. The “right-sized” diapers include customizable features that enable minimal disruption to care. The new micro-preemie P-3 is a size smaller than the P-2 micro-preemie, sized to fit babies less than 800g and includes improvements to the contour fit core, absorbency, fastening and gentle flex cuff.