Ecommerce Returns Management in Fashion: A Race Against Time

• In fashion and footwear, returns lose value every day they sit untouched.
• Customer-friendly return policies can quietly overwhelm warehouse operations.
• Apparel and footwear brands face higher condition risk and fraud exposure.
• The speed of your returns evaluation matters more than perfection.
• Fashion brands can process and relist returned items faster with a warehouse management system (WMS).

Ecommerce returns management takes on a different level of urgency in fashion, apparel, and footwear. Unlike other product verticals, returned items in these categories lose value quickly. For many fashion brands, the biggest challenge is getting returns evaluated and ready for resale before the opportunity disappears.

Descartes Enterprise Account Manager, Troy Graham, has seen this repeatedly in conversations with apparel brands. In some cases, businesses struggle to see where the problem lies.

In one company, he remembers talking to two people on the topic of returns. “One person was on the customer service and customer satisfaction side of the business, and then one was on the operational side in the warehouse,” said Graham. “I heard two completely different stories about how things went in peak season, specifically as it pertains to returns.”

In this article, we explain why fashion returns lose value so quickly, where warehouse operations often fall behind, and how your brand can preserve resale value by prioritizing speed and structure, drawing on real-world examples and insights from Troy Graham.

1. When customer experience succeeds but operations fall behind
2. Why time matters more in fashion returns than most verticals
3. The inspection moment that determines resale value
4. Why founders and leaders end up in the returns process
5. Make returns a scalable operation with Descartes Peoplevox
6. Ecommerce returns management FAQs

From the customer service perspective, ecommerce returns processing often sounds positive when your business has a returns-friendly approach.

Graham remembers the customer service representative saying, “We killed it. We did a great job. We had a really clear policy on our website. If you’re unhappy for any reason, here’s a date. You can return anything to us by that date. Just contact us. We’ll send you a shipping label and life is great. And it worked really well.”

To the customer service team, it appeared that customers were happy and returns were easy. On the surface, everything seemed to be working.

However, that was only half the story. Graham then spoke with the warehouse team, and it was very different from their perspective. “They said it was a disaster. They had a terrible season,” said Graham. “They showed me a corner of his warehouse, and it was just piled with boxes. And they said, that’s our returns area.”

The disconnect was not about effort; it was about preparation. While it’s great for customer satisfaction to have a flexible returns policy, particularly if you want customers to shop from you again, it can add unexpected pressure on warehouse operations that might go unnoticed by the rest of your team.

Returns in the fashion industry are far more time-sensitive than in most other verticals because seasons change, demand fades, and customer expectations shift quickly. It can mean that every day a return sits unopened is a day of lost value.

Graham explains that when the evaluation of returned goods gets delayed, it can be a missed opportunity to resell that product. Even when returns are still in good condition, the market changes, and products can become obsolete.

As a result, brands are often forced to make uncomfortable decisions. While they can relist merchandise on their website if it’s in good condition, if there is little demand, it will take time to sell.

That delay ties up capital and pushes products toward discount channels. Graham explains that after a few months of slow sales, a fashion brand might put some of that slow-moving merchandise on discount channels just to save space in the warehouse, space that could be better used by fast-moving products.

Speed matters. See how Descartes Peoplevox helps process fashion returns before value is lost.

Footwear brands face an added layer of complexity as condition matters more. Fraud is more common, and emotional reactions run high. Graham recalls talking to footwear brand owner on the topic of returns fraud. “He just sort of laughed. He said, ‘It’s amazing. We get back, used shoes all the time.’”

Some returns are predictable. The brand owner told Graham that quite often people will buy shoes, wear them to an event, and then return them. However, others are more brazen; in some cases, people just put their old sneakers in a box and ship them back.

At scale, even small abuses become expensive. “When you look at it happening every day, it becomes very expensive,” said Graham.

In apparel and footwear, the most important moment in the returns process is the first evaluation. Graham describes how some brands approach this decision point. “They could receive that product and quickly evaluate it. And that evaluation would simply be, ‘It’s new. It can go back on the shelf for sale.’”

However, not everything passes that test. There is always a chance that there’s a problem with the return and it needs fixing or cleaning. Even worse, there is always a possibility that a customer makes a fraudulent return.

The goal is not perfection; it is speed and clarity. Quickly inspecting the item early on prevents reselling issues later. By immediately inspecting and triaging returns upon receipt, you can catch fraud sooner and re-list acceptable items.

When systems fall short, leadership steps in. Graham shares another story that stayed with him: An apparel brand owner from the Midwest who personally inspected returned items. It wasn’t because she had the time, but because the brand mattered deeply to her.

“She said, I don’t want to send one of these nice coats out to a customer and find out that somebody’s worn it. There’s something in the pocket. It’s dirty. There’s dog hair on it,” recalls Graham.

The commitment was admirable, but the cost to the business was real. Graham explains how having to take time out of your day to inspect a return can become expensive as it takes you away from other more urgent tasks that may require attention.

Fashion brands that scale returns successfully rely on structure, not on heroics. A WMS can help your team evaluate returns faster, classify condition consistently, and make inventory available for resale sooner.

• Returned items are scanned on arrival to surface original order data, return reasons, and condition criteria immediately.
• Guided inspection steps help staff quickly determine whether an item is resale-ready, needs remediation, or should be removed from active inventory.
• Clear system-driven outcomes route items to restock, cleaning, refurbishment, quarantine, or disposal without manual decision-making.
• Inventory availability updates as soon as an item is approved for resale, reducing the window where value is lost waiting on review.

The result is less dependence on individuals and more confidence in outcomes. Returns move from being a daily fire drill to a manageable, repeatable process.

Strong fashion operations treat returns as a predictable flow, an approach that reflects proven ecommerce returns best practices rather than reactive problem-solving. They design processes around volume spikes, condition risk, and shrinking resale windows instead of reacting once returns start piling up in the warehouse. Returns are planned for with the same rigor as outbound fulfilment.

These teams prioritize returns processing speed over perfection. They know that waiting for flawless inspections or edge-case decisions often costs more than it saves. Clear guidelines define what ‘resale-ready’ means, and teams are empowered to make fast, consistent calls that keep inventory moving while demand still exists.

They also leverage technology-based systems for returns management. Rather than relying on individual experience or leadership intervention, strong operations use systems to enforce standards consistently at scale. As order volume grows, manual workflows and ad hoc decisions break down. Preserving resale value requires a best-in-class warehouse management system that guides returns evaluation, enforces consistency, and enables speed without sacrificing control.

Descartes Peoplevox is a purpose-built ecommerce WMS designed for the realities of fashion and apparel returns, where speed, condition accuracy, and consistency directly impact resale value.

Instead of relying on manual checks or tribal knowledge, Peoplevox structures the returns process from the moment items arrive, guiding teams through fast, standardised evaluations that reduce bottlenecks and prevent inventory from sitting idle.

By embedding clear inspection workflows, system-driven outcomes, and real-time inventory updates into daily warehouse operations, Peoplevox helps fashion brands manage returns at scale without sacrificing control.

The result is faster resale decisions, fewer escalations to leadership, and a warehouse operation that can handle growing return volumes while protecting margin and customer trust.

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to process a return with Descartes Peoplevox.

Ready to learn more about how Peoplevox makes handling fashion returns easier? Book a demo with us today.