Returns are very difficult for most brands to manage. This is mainly because, whether they handle their fulfillment in house, or utilize a third party fulfillment partner, distribution centers are not set up to manage returns well. They’re considered an afterthought and an expense, and when a facility deals in the millions of units, spending the energy to work through a handful of returned items that trickle in at a time can be really frustrating. Therefore, most companies employ a strategy that is neither helpful or profitable- they simply ignore them!

As the single returns processing vendor for many of the largest apparel brands in the US, we’ve seen it all. Returns come in from large retailers  and wholesalers packed in whatever cardboard cases they had on hand, mixed together with  blenders, books, perfume, household goods. You name it, and we’ve seen it! One time we had a pallet that was supposed to be sport coats and ties, and as we opened it, fancy bidet toilet seats were mixed in the cases with the clothing!! You never know what you’re going to find when you open up a carton of returns from a big box retailer.

This creates some very difficult problems for the brands that are selling to these large retailers. For one, most retailers want credit back for what didn’t sell through, if they are going to buy more products from you moving forward. And while the retailers pack and ship your returns back in whatever condition they please, one thing is for certain. They want their credits, and they want their credits fast.

The reason we’re the single choice for so many large brands is that we understand their position and we have thoughtfully built solutions to help them.

Often working with a Third Party Logistics or Third Party Fulfillment company,  a brand struggles with visibility. Most of the processes that are automated in your in house operations become very manual with outsourcing. This can slow down processing, and create major challenges with inventory accuracy.

Renewal Logistics understands this and has a knack for building ad hoc IT solutions to help make the outsourcing process less manual, more automated, more integrated.

For instance, one of the brands we work with came to us to provide solutions for their returns. They tried us on a 200,000 unit project, that crippled their distribution center’s throughput simply because the volume of merchandise consumed so much space. They were estimating this project to take 2-3 months to go from sorting, to crediting, to refurbishing, retrimming, and finally repackaging for first quality sales again.

They awarded us with this project, and within 5 days  crediting was complete and they were able to have full visibility on the units by size, style, color, and sku, so they were able to go back to the retailer and negotiate to  shore up their credit numbers in near real time. This is critical for a brand. Imagine going back to Macy’s two months after you accepted their return shipment and then telling them their numbers were off? It just doesn’t work that way. And if you can’t get a handle on the real numbers, you accept their numbers, and ultimately it can cost you a lot of money in credits that they don’t actually deserve.

So, having a vendor partner to give you real time data on your returns is critical. For all of the brands for whom we handle their e-commerce fulfillment, returns are processed next day and the crediting results are available in their portal almost immediately.

For clients who use us for third party logistics services on an as needed basis, we can provide this crediting data for you with a  very short turn around and in a format that is compatible with your WMS, OMS, or ERP.

Additionally, we can handle the refurbishment process for you quickly and efficiently.

With one of the largest and most technologically advanced drycleaning facilities in the country, we are able to refurbish goods back to first quality, complete with professional packaging and retrimming. In a matter of days,  your stock is good as new, and on the shelves ready to be picked and packed. 

Damaged Returns

We can also help you manage any goods that are not in sellable condition, such as those that are damaged. Those items don’t have to be written off and disposed of in a landfill. We can provide a sustainable track for your damaged garments that may include Upcycling and reselling, Downcycling, or Recycling.

Upcycling is the process of taking an item and turning it into something new and different and better.

Maybe you have women’s dresses that didn’t sell well, and you created too many samples. What was it that made that item not sell well? Was it the fit? The length? The overall style? Was the garment too plain? We can help you figure that out and fix the issue, and sometimes this means deconstructing the garment and creating something entirely new. 

For instance, we’re in the process now of making eyeglass holders and belts out of old mens’ ties.

The intent with upcycling is that you’ll be able to resell these items when they’re recreated.

With Downcycling, this is the process of taking apparel such as blue jeans, and turning them into insulation , as we do with our partnership with Blue Jeans Go Green.

Another common use case for downcycling is taking old plastic and polyester and turning it into automotive upholstery.

Recycling is breaking items down into their original components- Cotton and Polyester are the two main materials that are conducive to recycling at this point.

This process requires a lot of attention to detail, as garments must be of a particular fabric composition, color range, and must have buttons and zippers removed.

If you are in the process of working through your reverse logistics or returns strategy, reach out to us, and let’s talk!  Click here and lets’ see if there’s anything we can do to help you.