Kelly Epstein spends her days surrounded by diapers. Some are clean. Many are dirty. All are cloth.

Late last year, the “momtrepreneur” and Monument resident purchased the Cloth Diaper Market, a reusable nappies store on the east side of Colorado Springs.

She considers it an extension of her cloth diaper rental and laundering service, Eco-Baby, and a way to retain customers who’d become so committed to cloth diapering that they’d decided to wash their own.

Epstein spends part of her workweek at the store, where she’s surrounded by soft, fluffy diapers with prints featuring pink hibiscus flowers, multicolored kangaroos and fire trucks.The rest of her time is spent at her laundry facility, where she uses industrial washers to launder smelly diapers soiled by babies from Fountain to Boulder.

To some, it might seem like a scenario suited for an episode of “Dirty Jobs.” At one point, Epstein would have thought so, too. Nearly a decade ago, it took friends months to persuade the psychologist and registered dietician to try cloth with her own children.

Once she did, she was hooked — so much so that she knew she wouldn’t want to part with cloth diapering when her youngest began potty training.

“Cloth diapers are so cute,” she said on a sunny December morning while browsing her own products at the Cloth Diaper Market. “I say to customers, ‘I want a pair of underwear like this.’”

Snazzy and affordableOnce the only option for baby poo, cloth diapers were transformed from a necessity to a choice with the advent of disposable diapers in the 1940s.

But cloth diapers are making a comeback. The past decade has seen an explosion of brands and the evolution of the product from the old days of white pieces of cloth held together by safety pins.

Newer cloth diapers are made of cotton, wool, microfiber, hemp or velour. Some snap closed. Some Velcro closed.

Those who choose to use the old school type can close them with rubber grippers instead of safety pins.

Some “hybrid” varieties utilize both cloth and disposable inserts, reducing the amount of laundry. A few are made of organic materials.

Then there’s aesthetics. The most modern of cloth diapers come in prints such as plaid, paisley and polka dots, or with characters such as Chicken Little and Hansel and Gretel. Companies release collectible prints for holidays and special occasions.

Parents who aren’t seduced by the sea of cute prints might find themselves attracted to cloth diapering’s practical side. Reusable nappies can save parents upwards of $1,000 per child and reduce instances of diaper rash.

When Schriever Air Force Base mom Melissa Schmunk gave birth to her son four years ago, her sister used such arguments to persuade her to try it.

Schmunk was so happy with the experience that she’s back at it again: this time with her 4-month-old.

“Prefolds are so affordable — 20 bucks for a dozen, plus covers,” she said.Trend sees local growthAs “green” products become trendy and budgets shrink in a struggling economy, an increasing number are turning to cloth diapers.

A study commissioned by the Real Diaper Industry of America, a cloth-diapering trade association, showed a 30 percent increase in cloth diaper sales in recent years.

Local cloth diaper businesses aren’t booming, but they are experiencing an increasing level of success.

Epstein’s Cloth Diaper Market, one of two dedicated brick-and-mortar cloth diaper stores in Colorado Springs (the other is Baby Cotton Bottoms, on West Colorado Avenue), is growing despite competition from myriad online diaper shops.

Her diaper service has grown each year since its launch and serves more than 300 Front Range families.

“It’s really cool, especially in this economy,” Epstein said. “The majority of people I lose just want to wash their own.”

Most of her diaper service customers live in the more affluent areas of Boulder and Denver.Those who might not be able to afford the service, like many lower-enlisted military families, are showing up at her store and expressing interest in buying and washing their own diapers, she said.

Mom of five Rebecca Liang, owner of online cloth diaper store MomBecks.com, has seen business double since she launched a digital storefront from her home in 2011. Liang, who recently relocated to Woodland Park from Kansas, ships orders throughout the U.S. and also sells diapers out of her house.

“There’s definitely a lot more interest even than two years ago,” she said. “It seems like cloth diapering is a lot more common. A lot of babies are allergic to disposables, and a lot of families are trying to save money.”

Within the next month or two, both Epstein and Liang hope to launch introduction-to-cloth-diapering classes and host get-togethers and swaps for parents.

For many moms, cloth-diapering is more than a way of dealing with waste. It’s a subculture and a hobby, Liang said.

“You start talking with other people who cloth diaper and it’s amazing,” she said. “It’s definitely a common ground for people.”