Why is everyone wearing unpadded slings in your photos?

or

Why can’t I see the padding in the photos?

or

I can’t decide between a padded and unpadded sling.

or

I’m petite, I don’t want the padding to overwhelm me.

or

I’ve used a padded ring sling in the past, I hated it.

Some answers:

The padding actually isn’t really visible when
worn with the padded rail toward the inside of the sling. It’s hard to
describe without having a sling in front of you, but I’ll do my best —

Our padded slings have one padded rail and one unpadded rail. The padding
can be worn either on the inner rail, between you and the baby, or on the
outer rail. More explanation on where the padding goes, along with pictures, can be read here and more here.

Typically in the cradle carry, we suggest that the padding be worn on the
outside rail of the sling, like this:

or like this:

In the hip carry, the padding should always be worn on the inner rail of
the sling, where it isn’t visible, so that the padding ends up behind the baby’s knees. When worn
like this, the padding is virtually invisible, since it is basically between
you and the baby. In the hip carry, an unpadded sling and a padded sling look identical.

The padding can be worn on the inner rail of the sling in the cradle carry
as well, but it just makes more sense to have it on the outer rail, out of
the way, especially if you are breastfeeding. It puts less bulk between you and
the baby.

The main reason that you don’t see padding in our sling pictures is because
the sling is being worn with the padding on the inner rail of the sling.
The 2nd reason that you don’t see a lot of padded slings in our pictures is
because we haven’t always made padded slings. We originally only made
UNpadded slings for the first 1 1/2 years that we were in business. So for
this reason, we simply have more customer photos of unpadded slings. We
haven’t updated our photo gallery for quite a while, so most of the pictures
are from the first year or two that we were in business, hence they are
unpadded slings.

At this point we sell about 60% padded slings and 40% unpadded slings.
The padding is very minimal and discrete. It doesn’t add much in the way of
bulk. I think that it is useful for both newborns and toddlers alike. It’s
never a negative thing to have the padding, so when in doubt, I usually
suggest a padded sling. The only reason I would suggest an unpadded sling
over a padded sling is if you are looking for a lower cost option, OR, if we
have a print that is only available as an unpadded sling that you really
love

I only used unpadded slings with my daughter until recently She
is close to 3 years old and when she is in a sling now, she prefers a padded
one. She has never shown a preference until this year. I don’t think that
unpadded slings are uncomfortable for most babies, but there are some babies
that get narrow red lines on the back of their legs in an unpadded slings.
These same babies will get wider pink lines in a padded sling, so really,
the difference is minor.

There are some photos of a sling with the padding on the inside and outside
rails here, it may help you understand a little more:
http://slinglings.com/blog/babyslings/2008/01/18/wheres-the-padding-go/

I hope this helps!