Fiber content, in a general sense, pertains to what a fabric/textile product is made from. This will be fibers like cotton, bamboo (viscose or rayon), hemp, wool, etc or blends of fibers! You are able to find our fiber contents for each product on their product listing, permanent tag and/or hangtag/sticker.
Why does this matter for cloth diapering? When you are weighing your options for a purchase of cloth diapers, it is necessary to account for the fiber content a product is made of because each fiber has pros and cons that can directly affect the capacity, speed of absorption, quality, and liquid retention. We find that when parents are having issues with cloth diapers, it is most often due to lack of textile knowledge to have chosen the proper absorbency for their child!
In general, cotton and microfiber will be our quickest absorbers but will hold the least. Bamboo will be a little more absorbent and slightly slower at absorbing. Hemp is the highest absorber of commonly used fibers in cloth diapers. It will also be our slowest absorber! We always recommend combining quick absorbers with higher capacity options (ex. cotton booster on top of hemp trifold/insert) for best practice.
Absorption Speed (Quickest to slowest)
Microfiber/Cotton/Charcoal "Bamboo" > Bamboo > Hemp (less commonly found, > Tencel > Zorb)
Capacity (Highest to lowest)
(Zorb > Tencel >) Hemp > Bamboo > Cotton/Microfiber/Charcoal "Bamboo"
Affordability (Lowest to highest)
Microfiber/Charcoal "Bamboo" > Cotton > Bamboo > Hemp
Many cloth diapers on easily accessible/quick shipping retail websites, tend to include a low quality, microfiber insert with each diaper. This keeps the products affordable, but definitely can cause frustration in your cloth diaper journey. Most children will need heavy absorbers at some point in their diapering phase AT LEAST for nighttime. Very few families get by without a heavy absorber of some sort, unless they change diapers through the night!
Last thing we would like to mention about textiles — fabric weight!
Every fabric carries a weight that is measured in grams per square meter (GSM). When comparing same fabric contents, you can also compare GSM (if info is offered) to know which one might hold more. This isn’t a hard and fast rule but can give a general idea of which option might be better suited for your baby. We don’t normally advocate for deciding on inserts or other absorbency options based solely on amount of layers.
We hope this adds a little knowledge tool to your cloth diaper toolbox to help you decide on the best choices for your family :)