A joke product ‘invented’ in the late ‘90s has turned into a Baby Mop boom!

Maybe it’s Christmas, maybe it’s a Halloween hangover, but online sales are skyrocketing for a bizarre baby suit that has mop heads attached to its arms and legs.

As your baby crawls around, exploring its world and environment, it essentially polishes the floor, collecting and dragging bits of dust, dirt and hairballs with it.

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Recently put into production by BetterThanPants.com, the Baby Mop was inspired by a Japanese novelty book on ‘chindogu’, the art of the unuseless invention, according to Mike Parker, director of operations at BetterThanPants.com.

“I think the show was on in the late ’90s and the photograph [of a little Japanese baby wearing the original suit] has been floating around the internet for years,” he told TIME NewsFeed.

Since the Baby Mop went on sale on their site, sales have skyrocketed. “At first it was two or three a day, and we were like, oh wow people are actually buying these. Then it just kind of took off. All of a sudden they were like crazy double digits,” Parker said.

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The onesie, made of 100% cotton and “ultra absorbent materials” resembling hundreds of cheese Twisties, retails for $40 and is “engineered to clean and shine your floor”. The suit can be easily slipped off “when your baby is done cleaning.”

In case pricepoint and convenience aren’t reasons enough to add the Baby Mop to your cart, BetterThanPants.com lists the “Top five reasons you NEED a baby mop.”

1. Teach your baby a strong work ethic early on in their life.


2. Your baby will learn not to drop and waste food. 


3. Baby will get a nice workout, burn off energy, and do muscle toning. And sleep better too.

4. Not having to clean your floors saves you time so you can spend it doing things you enjoy.


5. Save lots of money on house cleaning costs.

While many visitors to the site have shared their love for the product, including handy tips on how it works best (“experiment with spraying the kids with water” and “use one of those leash things and swing the baby around so it doesn’t miss a spot”), others are less than impressed with “lazy” and “coldhearted” parents who would force their infants to crawl on the floor in a cleaning suit.

At this stage, sales seem to be favouring humour over outrage. But for those with lingering concerns about child labour law violations, Parker has issued assurances that the Baby Mop is manufactured in BetterThanPants.com’s shop in Rochester, New York, where they do not employ children.

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