For Fibre for Good, a Sydney-based children’s lifestyle apparel brand, environmental responsibility is at the heart of its mission. The company uses organic natural color cotton as a fundamental part of its range of baby clothing products, which enables it to eliminate artificial dyes and harmful chemicals in the manufacturing of its garments. Its basics are crafted to be timeless, suitable for any gender, and appeal to mothers across various apparel categories.
To connect with customers, the brand distributes its clothing through a Shopify-based store, allowing it to easily provide an exceptional customer experience through an efficient e-commerce workflow.
Focusing on regenerative farming and organic cotton
Throughout its journey, Fibre for Good has deeply committed to sustainability. Using organic natural color cotton significantly reduces water consumption by three-quarters compared to conventional cotton. The company sources heirloom cotton varieties that are drought-resistant and pest-resistant, maintaining natural softness, hypoallergenic qualities, and anti-static properties.
One unique aspect that differentiates Fibre For Good from other children’s apparel companies is its emphasis on regenerative farming in the production of its rompers, pants, and socks. Organic cotton is carefully picked to avoid damaging the fibers, and hand-processed so that the farmers can retain the seed. Because the company works closely with multi-generational farming families on sustainable agriculture, seeds from the harvest can be repurposed for use in next year’s planting, or utilized to produce cooking oil as a byproduct.
These farmers rotate cotton with food crops and use livestock for natural pest control and fertilization. In addition, Fibre for Good ensures fair compensation by paying farmers upfront to cover cultivation costs and guarantee their livelihood.
This attention to detail results in a more sustainable product. The colors in the cotton are all-natural: green derived from chlorophyll, brown from tannins in the soil, and white coming from a natural, unbleached cotton. Furthermore, clothing produced with organic, regenerative-farmed cotton can be composted at the end of its useful life – resulting in a true circular product.
Communicating clearly with customers using DPPs
Due to the care Fibre for Good takes in the production of its products, it aimed to communicate clearly to customers about the benefits of its organic natural color cotton. It chose to do so with a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to provide next-level sustainability detail for customers, as well as to comply with upcoming regulatory standards in the European Union and elsewhere. It also uses its DPP to educate consumers about organic and regenerative clothing, avoid greenwashing, and help customers make responsible choices.
With our organic natural color cotton, we offer eco-friendly baby wear that parents can have their little ones snuggle up to — with no hesitation whatsoever.
“Typically in apparel production, companies use harmful dyes in their garments and generate large amounts of wastewater,” said Carl Ludwig, Founder and CEO of Fibre for Good. “With our organic natural color cotton, we offer eco-friendly baby wear that parents can have their little ones snuggle up to — with no hesitation whatsoever.”
Using the PicoNext Product Passports app for Shopify to accelerate DPP production
Fibre for Good has long used Shopify as its e-commerce platform and had already consolidated details about each of its products within its Shopify storefront. Creating Digital Product Passports for each item in its new Heritage line posed a challenge, however, due to the amount of data and time necessary to gather and organize the data.
Using the PicoNext Product Passports app for Shopify helped us produce our Digital Product Passport more quickly, and at lower cost than we could otherwise have done.
That’s when Carl and team, with the help of sustainability consulting partner Circular Society, turned to the PicoNext Product Passports app for Shopify. Using the app, Fibre for Good was able to review the products within its Shopify store for which it could create Digital Product Passport. Then, it selected a product directly within the Shopify admin panel, as well as additional information from an existing store page (like its sustainability-focused "About Us" page).
Reducing DPP production cost and time-to-market
The PicoNext AI Assistant used large language AI models to quickly analyze that information in the context of an apparel-oriented DPP template, looking for apparel attributes like raw material sourcing, environmental impacts, recyclability, and more. The PicoNext Product Passports app for Shopify then created a DPP draft, complete with the product's title, image, and summarized product data. Fibre for Good was then able to review, edit, and approve the data before finalizing and publishing its DPP.
“Using the PicoNext Product Passports app for Shopify helped us produce our Digital Product Passport more quickly, and at lower cost than we could otherwise have done,” said Carl. “Instead of manually sifting through all of our sustainability data, we used AI to generate a first pass of our DPP directly from our Shopify store, which we then fine-tuned to achieve our final result.”
Capabilities usedIntegrating DPPs into the brand experience
Fibre for Good also wanted its Digital Product Passport to align with the brand experience it has carefully crafted for customers. It decided to use PicoNext Enterprise APIs to display DPP data in a custom-branded website replete with the natural green and brown hues found in its clothing. The customized DPP website provides a one-stop location for customers to review the sustainability disclosures for each Fibre For Good product, and provides a way for the brand to differentiate itself in terms of its unique, organic natural colour cotton.
Leading the way with Digital Product Passports
For the company, Digital Product Passports are a way to show its commitment to transparency and connect more deeply with customers around shared sustainability values. In the future, Fibre For Good is looking to expand its DPPs into other parts of its product portfolio, and add brand engagement features that enhance the customer experience.
“We want to lead the way in conscious consumerism, and help our customers make informed choices that leave a positive impact on the planet,” said Carl. “Our Digital Product Passport is key to achieving this, because it empowers our customers with knowledge and transparency about sustainable practices — now and for years to come.”
We want to lead the way in conscious consumerism, and help our customers make informed choices that leave a positive impact on the planet.
Our Digital Product Passport is key to achieving this, because it empowers our customers with knowledge and transparency about sustainable practices — now and for years to come.
