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

Online fashion runs on one assumption: you 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. Most clothes, the company says, are tried on once, just as they would be in a physical store, and come back in very good condition. So around 98 percent of returned items can go straight back on sale on Zalando or in its Lounge by Zalando shopping club. The figure covers returns processed at the company's returns centres, from wholesale business and from partners that use its logistics services.

The scale of the business

Second-quarter 2026 results, published on 4 August, show how big the machine has become. 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 goes the other way. 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. You 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.