I love stories. Interesting stories. And I like innovation. When these two come together, it is something special. Recently I heard about an interesting innovation and discovered there is a story behind it when I spoke to the founder of Leafline, Candy Androliakos.
She was working at a retirement home and was shocked by the cost of adult nappies. Many of the pensioners spent a large portion of meagre pensions on nappies; literally thousands of rands a month, and to ad insult to injury, they had to spend even more money on waste management since there is a specific protocol to getting rid of these nappies…
At the request of one of the elderly residents Candy started searching for a more affordable alternative to replace the extremely expensive disposable ones. Nothing was readily available, so something had to be developed from scratch. Going for something washable and durable would be more environmentally sound than the general disposable options, so the outer part of the nappy was not difficult to do, but there needed to be something inside that could absorb moisture.
While doing a tour of the Big Pineapple in Bathurst, she noticed a billboard with the different uses for Pineapple leaf fibre. One of the attributes of the leaf fibre was that it had a very high absorption level. She jumped into action to find out more and discovered that a retired farmer called Brian Linforth had experimented with the uses of the fibre. She managed to contact him and he made up a batch of the fibre for her to use. This fibre was found to be stronger than cotton and absorbs moisture, smell and bacteria.
The pineapple leaf fibre had the potential to the solution to the problems she had to resolve to come up with a sustainable product. Candy experimented with the fibre and finally designed an adult range using the fibre as a removable inner part to the product developed thus far. While working with Brian on this project, she was able to, with his assistance, design an absorbent inner liner. The final product was cost effective, bringing relief the pensioners wallets, sustainable, being reusable and more environmentally friendly than disposable alternatives, and innovative. Brian, a key figure in the innovation and design, was later able to see the benefits of this product himself. 51 % of adults over the age of 65 are incontinent. There are different stages of incontinence. From light to heavy incontinence. Leafline products are available for all stages of incontinence.
The innovation received wide recognition, winning the GAP GREEN award at the Innovation Hub in 2018, which allowed Leafline to produce other products and increase their range. In 2021 they won the SAB Foundation award. This enabled the company to open a factory in Bathurst where they directly employ ladies with disabilities to sew the product..
Leafline offers reusable and high-quality sanitary products for adults and children. Manufactured by their dedicated team at the Leafline factory in the Eastern Cape, their range includes affordable, sustainable, and biodegradable solutions for eco-conscious moms and dads, incontinence sufferers, care homes and anyone looking for a cost-effective and earth-friendly choice. The Leafline adult range includes waterproof pants, liners which can be used in the client’s own underwear, chair and bed protectors and feminine hygiene products. The Leafline kiddies range includes fun and funky reusable diapers and changing mats with natural fibre inners.
All the Leafline inners are made from patented and world-first pineapple fibre, making them soft, super-absorbent and 100% environmentally friendly.
Learn more about Leafline here: https://portalfredonline.co.za/listing/leafline/
