The True Cost of Returns: Who’s Responsible for Fashion’s Growing Problem?

As online shopping booms, the fashion industry faces a mounting problem: Returns.

As online shopping booms, the fashion industry faces a mounting problem: returns. As Grazia’s recent article on serial returners points out, (Serial Returners Beware - Retailers Have You In Their Sights), a recent report by logistics company Zig Zag found shoppers with a habit of changing their minds will send back an average of £1400 worth of products a year – to a total of £6.6bn. The Grazia article states “we didn’t ask for AI to urge us to buy more stuff. Nor did we ask to see those panic inducing “243 other viewing this item” pop up. And we certainly didn’t ask retailers to be random with their sizing. Its really not cool to employ every trick in the book to tempt us to buy more, then shame us when we do.” But the issue extends beyond logistics; it’s a costly environmental crisis. Each returned item represents wasted resources, from overproduction to the energy consumed in reverse logistics and reprocessing, driving up costs and carbon footprints.

In my 20 years in retail, I’ve seen the staggering impact returns have on companies firsthand. Retailers bear the responsibility to make it easier for customers to buy the right items first time; through accurate sizing, clear descriptions, and digital fit tools. But customers, too, have a part to play by buying only what they truly intend to keep, rather than returning multiple items in bulk.

Marketing and payment solutions like “buy-now-pay-later” have fuelled impulse buying and, subsequently, high returns and over production. This points to the need for retailers to encourage thoughtful purchasing and sustainability.

Thankfully, innovative solutions like Get return on returns - inretrn are emerging. Among its peers, InRetrn stands ahead of the crowd with its data-driven, customer-first approach, making returns efficient. InRetrn helps brands track return patterns, cut future returns, and build customer loyalty - all while reducing the environmental impact through smarter reverse logistics, repair, resale, and recycling, and keeping returns out of landfill.

Addressing the issue of returns requires a collaborative approach. We all share the responsibility, and the power, to make fashion’s future more sustainable. What do you think is the best solution? Are brands, customers, or new technologies the answer to solving fashion’s return problem?