I tried cotton diapers for my first child. By the time I rinsed them, soaked them, boiled them, dried them, defrosted them, dried them again etc I found that although I would have liked to use them regularly, I did not have enough hours in the day or good weather, or line space to use them practically. I was in the UK at the time. Stay at home moms might have the time, energy and determination but that wasn't me. Oh, I didn't have a washing machine at the time so it was all handwashing too.
With my kids that I raised in Belize I used disposables. I didn't know anybody that used real diapers.
So, can't really attest to coolness - but I can say that the climate is a lot more conducive to allowing a lot of freedom (no diapers.) I let the kids run around naked a lot and found that I didn't deal with too many diaper rashes.
Back in those days I had never heard of bamboo cloths, but I see that they are quite popular now.