What does a circular economy actually look like in practice for a children's clothing brand?
Not in theory. Not in a strategy document. But in the messy, energising, sometimes frustrating reality of running a retail brand — managing teams, navigating logistics, and trying to change the way your customers think and behave?
That's the question at the heart of this episode, and Jacob Faull answers it with remarkable honesty.
Jacob is the co-founder of Nature Baby, a New Zealand-born children's clothing label he started with his wife Georgia about 25 years ago — born out of frustration at not being able to find organic, natural clothing for their first child. Today, Nature Baby operates stores in Auckland, Wellington, and Sydney, works with over 80 stockists across Australia and the United States, and manufactures its garments using certified organic cotton from India and ZQ-certified merino from Australasia. It's a brand built slowly, deliberately, and with genuine care — and it shows.
The initiative at the centre of this conversation is Worn Again — Nature Baby's circular takeback program. Customers return their pre-loved Nature Baby garments in exchange for store credit. Those items are assessed, cleaned, and sent back out into the world: resold, donated, repaired, or recycled, depending on their condition. Simple in concept. Genuinely hard in practice.
Jacob walks us through all of it — the lightbulb moment that came from hearing a single garment had been worn by eight different children, the surprising fibre science behind why Nature Baby products last so much longer than typical children's clothing, and the very human challenge of asking customers to change habits they've had their whole lives.
He's refreshingly candid about the numbers. Their current return rate sits at around 1.5% — lower than the 8% benchmark they were aiming for, and a long way from the 12% Jacob had hoped for. But 90% of what does come back goes straight to resale. And each month, slowly, the numbers grow.
In this episode, Nick and Jacob cover:
- Why Nature Baby's organic fibres make their garments uniquely suited to multiple lives
- The full circular hierarchy: resale first, then donation, repair, and recycling as a last resort
- What it actually took to get the whole team — product, merchandise, retail, marketing, digital — aligned and energised around a program that adds real workload
- Why inspiring customers to participate is just as hard as solving the logistics
- What Worn Again content does to their social media engagement — and the interesting gap between what people like and what they buy
- The plan to launch online returns and scale the program beyond the in-store experience
- Jacob's long-term vision: a fully pre-loved, standalone Nature Baby community store
What makes this conversation genuinely worth your time isn't just the initiative itself — it's the way Jacob talks about it.
For anyone thinking about what circular economy could actually mean for their own business — or anyone who just wants to hear from someone doing something that matters and doing it with integrity — this one's for you.
To find out more about Nature Baby and the Worn Again program, visit https://www.naturebaby.co.nz/pages/worn-again.
To learn more about Go Well Consulting and how we work with businesses on sustainability strategy and reporting, visit https://gowellconsulting.co.nz/.
