Online fashion returns: what happens to the clothes you send back

Online fashion runs on a simple premise: customers order several sizes, try them on at home, and send the rest back. Zalando puts it plainly: the fitting room moves into the customer's home. In most cases, clothes are tried on once, just as in a physical store, and return in very good condition. This allows around 98 percent of returned items to be offered for sale again immediately on Zalando or in its Lounge by Zalando shopping club. The figure covers returns processed at the company's returns centres, from both wholesale business and partners using its logistics services.

The scale of the business

Second-quarter 2026 results, published on 4 August, show the size of this mechanism. Group gross merchandise volume (GMV) rose 20.7 percent to 4.9 billion euros. Revenue reached 3.4 billion euros. Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) grew 10 percent to 205 million euros. Active customers numbered 62.5 million, up 18.3 percent on a year earlier. The B2B segment lifted revenue 27.6 percent to 335 million euros, at a 12.2 percent margin. Zalando is also building an AI-powered content platform, SCAYLE STUDIOS. In the 2.5 months since launch, it has worked with more than 100 brands, cutting content production time by over 95 percent and costs by around 90 percent.

The counterexample: fitting rooms close

Brandy Melville takes a different approach. The outlet Jiemian reports that the chain has removed fitting rooms from its stores in Beijing and Chengdu, and that returns are no longer paid out in cash. Customers can exchange the item or take a voucher. The brand sells almost exclusively one size ("S") and runs four stores in China: on Anfu Road in Shanghai, in Beijing's Sanlitun, in Chengdu, and in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. Closing the fitting rooms signals that the chain would rather cut the number of transactions than handle returns.

Dark patterns under scrutiny

The regulatory backdrop is tightening. The outlet t3n described the tricks used in shops such as Temu: countdown clocks, artificial urgency, "last items" messages. The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) bans dark patterns in platform interfaces, and fines are calculated on global turnover. For clothing retailers, optimising conversion through time pressure is turning into a legal risk.