WHERE DOES THE CLOTHES WE RETUN GO?

After the vortex of purchases made because of Black Friday this past weekend, it is possible that some of the purchases made do not meet our initial expectations. Perhaps you have simply taken advantage of these discounts of American origin (already so integrated) to make your Christmas purchases, if so, surely in the long run, some of those gifts will also become returns. So what about the items we return? Let's talk about it!

The logical answer would be back to its perch in the store, but the reality is much more complex and controversial, especially in the case of e-commerce. Among the regulars of online purchases, there is a method of purchase known as bracketing shopping, a practice that consists of buying several sizes and colors of the same garment to try them at home and then return what you do not like. It is not by chance that millions of people repeat the same consumption pattern: stores and brands have been educating themselves for it for decades without realizing that it is helping to make the fashion industry even more damaging. In addition, free returns, like shipping, have become an impulse purchase argument.

What happens then with the garment that is returned? We will analyze your way from the point of return to the warehouse. For starters, you will have to travel back, with the fuel consumption that this implies. Once in the warehouse, it is verified that the garment physically matches the one reflected in the order and, on the other hand, its physical state is checked. If the latter is correct, it is returned to the company's stock for later sale on the web or in any of the brand's stores.

In this way, it is estimated that a high percentage of garments never return to the circuit. The causes? On the one hand, the fierce cycle of fashion that makes it very likely that that bag bought on Black Friday and returned after Christmas has already expired by the time it is ready to be sold again; or because they do not compensate for all those considerations necessary to leave the piece as new as well as the expenses that this entails for the brand. The management of returns generates so many losses that, sometimes, they even offer a refund of the price of the product, but without receiving it back. Or at best, these garments end up in an outlet or as charitable donations.

In conclusion, making so much impulsive purchase only generates more textile waste and greater impact of environmental waste. A topic that has also been discussed at the COP26 climate summit held in Glasgow this month. Starting in the next few years, fashion brands will begin to be penalized for generating garbage, an action that buyers will affect us. Therefore, let's educate ourselves now on modifying our buying habits.