When you return a garment, you might assume it goes back to the shelf for the next customer. The reality is more complex—and often wasteful. Many returned items never make it back to primary sales channels. They're liquidated, destroyed, or sold at deep discounts. Understanding what happens to returns reveals why reducing returns—especially fit-related ones—matters for both brands and the environment.
The Return Journey: Inspection, Reprocessing, and Decision
When a garment is returned, it goes through inspection and reprocessing. The item is checked for damage, wear, or signs that it's been worn. Tags must be intact, and the garment must be in resellable condition. This process costs time and labor, and not all returned items pass inspection.
Items that pass inspection might go back to primary shelves, but this isn't guaranteed. Many brands separate returned items from new inventory, selling them through outlet stores, discount channels, or liquidation. The goal is to move inventory quickly, not necessarily to maximize value.
Items that fail inspection—or that cost more to reprocess than they're worth—are often liquidated or destroyed. When reprocessing costs exceed resale value, it's more economical to write off the item than to try to resell it. This is especially common for fast fashion items with low margins.
Why Returns Often Don't Go Back to Shelves
Reprocessing costs eat into margins. Each return requires shipping, handling, inspection, and often repackaging. For a $20 fast fashion item, these costs might be $5-8, leaving little margin for resale. It's often more economical to liquidate or destroy the item than to reprocess it.
Seasonal timing matters. If a garment is returned after the season has passed, it might not be worth restocking. A winter coat returned in spring has little value until next winter, so brands often liquidate it rather than holding inventory. This is especially true for fast fashion with rapid style turnover.
Condition uncertainty creates risk. Even if a garment looks unworn, brands can't be certain it hasn't been worn, damaged, or contaminated. This uncertainty makes brands cautious about restocking returned items, especially for items that contact skin or are difficult to inspect thoroughly.
The Waste Stream: Liquidation and Destruction
Liquidation is common for returned items. Brands sell returned inventory to liquidators at deep discounts, who then resell it through discount stores, online marketplaces, or export markets. This recovers some value but at a significant loss. The environmental cost of this process—shipping, handling, and often multiple resale attempts—is significant.
Destruction happens when items can't be liquidated profitably. Some brands destroy returned items rather than paying to store, ship, or liquidate them. This is especially common for items with low resale value or that have been returned multiple times. The waste from destruction is avoidable but often economically rational for brands.
The hidden cost is in the process itself. Even when returned items are resold, the shipping, handling, and reprocessing create environmental impact. As we explore in Why Online Clothing Returns Are So High, returns are mostly fit failures, meaning this waste is largely preventable with better sizing.
How Better Fit Reduces Return Waste
Better fit reduces returns at the source. When garments fit properly from the start, there's no need to return them. This eliminates the shipping, handling, and reprocessing that create waste. As we explain in Why Clothing Sizes Don't Exist, starting with body measurements rather than size labels reduces guesswork and returns.
Made-to-measure and body-aware sizing eliminate fit-related returns. As we cover in Made-to-Measure vs Bespoke vs Custom, these approaches start with your body and build garments to match. The result is clothing that fits properly from the start, eliminating the returns that create waste.
Technology makes this practical. AI body scanning can capture your body shape accurately, and digital tailoring can match garments to your measurements. This reduces returns by matching garments to bodies, not bodies to arbitrary size categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do returned clothes really get destroyed?
Sometimes, yes. When reprocessing costs exceed resale value, it's often more economical to destroy items than to try to resell them. This is especially common for fast fashion items with low margins. The waste from destruction is avoidable but often economically rational for brands.
Why don't returned items go back to shelves?
Many do, but many don't. Reprocessing costs, seasonal timing, and condition uncertainty make brands cautious about restocking returned items. It's often more economical to liquidate or destroy items than to reprocess and restock them, especially for low-margin fast fashion items.
What happens to liquidated returns?
Liquidated returns are sold to liquidators at deep discounts, who then resell them through discount stores, online marketplaces, or export markets. This recovers some value but at a significant loss. The environmental cost of this process—shipping, handling, and often multiple resale attempts—is significant.
Can better sizing really reduce return waste?
Yes. When garments fit properly from the start, there's no need to return them. This eliminates the shipping, handling, and reprocessing that create waste. Better fit reduces returns at the source, preventing the waste stream that follows.
What can I do to reduce return waste?
Start with your actual body measurements, not size labels. Measure yourself consistently (see our guide on how to measure your body), then compare those measurements to garment specifications. Look for brands that use body scanning or made-to-measure approaches that start with your body data.
