Sustainable Fashion Is a Farce Without Virtual Try-Ons
Fashion brands enter this Black Friday seeing green not just because of sales but because they're offering more sustainable products than ever before. From carbon-neutral T-shirts to sustainable shoes and eco-friendly hats, Santa will have his hands full keeping up with the more than $41 billion in projected online apparel sales — the top-selling category. Yet one factor may undermine the industry's otherwise noble march toward sustainability and place fashion brands on Old St. Nick's naughty list: product returns.
On average, about one out of every four online apparel purchases in the US gets shipped back, a return rate that dwarfs other product categories like electronics (11%) and books (7%). This is particularly problematic considering that transporting returns generates more than 15 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in the US annually, according to sustainability consultancy Eco-Age. That's as much as 3 million cars.
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As the fashion industry grapples with its contribution to the climate crisis, brands must confront this kink in their supply chain. High return rates can undo the good done by sustainable fashion efforts.
Why do people return so many clothes? Because consumers are really bad at guessing whether a product will fit to their liking, especially when evaluating them on screens. Indeed, studies show that humans can vary widely in their ability to guess body size, texture, and weight. It's even worse when estimating for others.
Given that online shopping will only increase over time, is this an environmental cost that we have to accept? Not at all. Brands can embrace a simple and effective solution to help consumers accurately select items and significantly reduce return
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