Fidella Flytai

Mei Tai / Wrapconversion

The first pictures of the Flytai made me very curious. Adjustable in height & width? Great! No plastic parts, no ‘normal’ cords. Everything is made out of (Fidella) wrap fabric. Fidella told me they didn’t want to rely too much on parts from other companies. The Fidella wrap fabric consists of 100% organic cotton and the padding is made with 100% polyester.

I got one of the first Flytais to test and now (exactly one month later) I got the improved version in order to compare them to each other.

One of the first things I noticed once when I wanted to try my carrier was that I somehow couldn’t really adjust the height. On the Fidella product picture the cord to adjust is very long and you need to make a knot to adjust the height. Mine wasn’t longer than the body height of the carrier- Yes, I was able to make knot, but it didn’t give me a lot of possibilities to adjust the carrier (just ‘short’, nothing in between). Of course I contacted Fidella and they told me it was because of safety reasons (risk of strangulation) and I could just cut the cord to make a smaller knot if I’d like. They also told me that the next batch would have 2 cords just like the width adjustment already had. So, I didn’t cut the cord (but you can take a look at bébé se porte bien for a demo. She did it!)

After playing around with adjustments, I decided to leave it on the biggest size. My little girl is almost 2 years old, around 80cm tall and I thought it would fit without having to make  it smaller. I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed that the width was too narrow for my little girl. Luckily, the shoulder straps are wide and you can use them for a reinforced carry and make up for the narrow body. Your child will be supported from knee to knee and it’s very comfortable.

I don’t want to say too much about the ‘old’ version, so let’s get to the new and  improved carrier!

It’s 8 cm wider! 8 cm! Okay, that doesn’t sound like much, but it can make the difference between a baby size and toddler size carrier. A toddler size wompat, for example, has a 45 cm wide body panel. They say it should fit a toddler up to clothing size 92/98 (2T/3T, 2-3 years). I tried the new flytai with my 98/104 clothing size, 3.5 year old toddler. I did need to use the reinforced carry but it was still very comfortable!
Where my little girl first was too big for the ‘baby’ flytai, this size is perfect. I even need to adjust the height and width now.

I love the shoulder straps. It’s a combination of padding and folded wrap fabric. You can spread the wrap fabric on your shoulder which is very comfortable. Adjusting the height and width is very easy, just pull and make a knot. The only problem could be to get the knot out if you want to readjust it.

The carrier doesn’t have leg padding. I don’t think leg padding is something a carrier must have, but with my big girl I do prefer it because it just looks more comfortable. I asked my toddler how she likes this carrier and she said it’s very nice. Just like the Fidella wraps this carrier is soft from the start.

The shoulder straps are (very) long, which is perfect for a fancy finish. Maybe a nice tibetan finish? Or my ‘happy’ variation with a vertical candy cane belt? The waist strap has rounded ends, where the shoulder straps have tapered ends. This makes it easier to tell them apart when you’re tying. Nice detail!

One little detail that really annoys me is the Fidella tag. It is sewn on to the sleeping hood, but more like a clothing tag instead of a flat label. If you’re not using the sleeping hood the Fidella tag stands up like a clothing tag in your neck sometimes does. Doesn’t look nice! 🙂

You can buy the carrier at the Fidella shop, it will also be available at some retailers in the near future.

(please note: Fidella says the max. weight limit is 15kg)

Some pictures:

Here you can see the Fidella label/tag: