Rethinking Returns for a More Sustainable Fashion Economy

A reverse logistics strategy that transforms waste into a competitive advantage.

🎥 Scene Setting:
The fashion industry loses billions to returns each year—and sends millions of garments straight to landfill. Most solutions treat it as a cost issue. We saw it as a design opportunity.

NewLife was a semester-long business innovation project that tackled returns as a systems challenge. Our goal: reduce waste, protect margins, and rethink what a “return” could mean in a circular fashion economy. This project tackled the operational side of returns to reduce waste and improve sustainability.

Research Question:

How might we improve return economics for apparel brands by optimizing logistics and creating differential sales channels?

🔍 The Approach:
We started by mapping the returns journey—from pre-purchase behavior to post-return landfill. Through user interviews, competitive analysis, and operational deep-dives, we identified key pain points and behavioral triggers.

Then we built a solution that reframed returns as a service opportunity: a new reverse logistics model that blends digital transparency, predictive tools, and circular re-entry points—resell, repair, and renew.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 My Role:

• Led user interviews and qualitative research across shopper segments

• Conducted competitive analysis on sustainable and resale-focused fashion brands

• Co-developed a 5-year strategic roadmap with marketing + ops implications

• Presented final concept to industry mentors and faculty panel

✨ Why It Still Matters:
This project showed me how sustainability and strategy can work together—when you stop looking for the perfect return rate, and start designing for long-term value. As circular fashion scales, brands need more than good materials. They need smarter systems.

NewLife is a reminder that sustainability isn’t just about production—it’s about what happens after the cart is full.