The returns system that once kept customers happy is now under scrutiny for its environmental impact. The process designed to keep shoppers satisfied has quietly become one of the industry’s biggest sustainability dilemmas—a logistical necessity turning into a measurable climate liability. New findings link apparel returns to soaring transport emissions and wasted packaging, positioning reverse logistics as the next major target in fashion’s decarbonisation plans. As online sales volumes climb and return cycles grow faster, the problem is expanding just as awareness begins to catch up.
Returns have always been part and parcel of traditional retail, but in fashion e-commerce they have grown into a structural feature (now a nightmare). Consumers routinely order multiple sizes or styles, intending to keep only one. Each unwanted garment retraces the supply chain through fleets of trucks and sorting warehouses. A study in the US now shows that more than 90 per cent of the emissions from this process come from transport alone. What was once a customer-service promise has become a high-emission delivery loop running in reverse.
Centralised return systems compound problems. Items purchased from one coast often travel across the country to be inspected or repackaged before resale. The distance built into these networks not only inflates carbon output but also reduces much of the efficiency once associated with centralised e-commerce systems. By contrast, decentralised hubs closer to customers reduce transit miles, energy use, and packaging waste—proving that design, not demand, drives much of the footprint.
Packaging adds another, if smaller, layer to the load. Cardboard boxes, plastic sleeves and fillers accompany every journey back, generating thousands of tonnes of additional emissions each year. While minor beside transport, these materials multiply across millions of parcels, turning single-use packaging into a steady contributor to fashion’s waste stream. The scale reveals how seemingly small design choices accumulate into measurable environmental cost.
The pandemic years intensified this growing imbalance. Surging online orders, relaxed return policies and supply disruptions turned warehouses into traffic nodes for discarded goods. Even as sales stabilised, return volumes stayed high, normalising an unsustainable practice. What remains largely unacknowledged is that every click to undo a purchase invariably activates a carbon-intensive system built for convenience, not for consequence. In the rush to make fashion frictionless, the industry created a cycle that now runs against its own sustainability goals.
These findings come from a study by Jing Long of the University of Southampton and Jiacheng Liu of the University of Manchester. Their research, published in Sustainable Futures under the title ‘Hidden footprints in reverse logistics: The environmental impact of apparel returns and carbon emission assessment’, quantifies the scale of emissions from reverse logistics in the United States.
The paper analyses data from two large apparel retailers and shows how network design determines outcomes: one centralised model sent long-haul returns that dominated emissions, while a decentralised approach reduced distance and waste. It places reverse logistics within the wider circular-economy debate, identifying it as a critical yet overlooked link in fashion’s climate response.
