Sustainable Fashion Is a Farce Without Virtual Try-Ons
Consumers are really bad at guessing the fit of apparel on a screen, so transporting product returns generates 15 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in the US annually.
Take the guessing game out of online shopping.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/BloombergFashion 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.