DHL’s new figures reveal just how sharply returns are reshaping online retail, with some apparel categories approaching 90% send-backs. Companies are racing to streamline the process before billions in recoverable value are lost.
The New Economics of Returns
Fashion remains the epicenter of reverse-logistics pressure. Bracketing, the now-common practice of ordering multiple sizes and keeping only one, has lifted return rates above 50% in many apparel categories. IHL Group reports that women’s dresses continue to be among the most frequently returned items, a pattern that reinforces how sizing inconsistency and fit issues outweigh shipping damage as drivers of return behavior.
This scale has altered network design. DHL has expanded to roughly 170,000 drop-off and service points globally, paired with more than 42,000 electric vehicles to shorten first- and last-mile distances. The company’s labelless return option, enabled by QR codes, caters to shoppers who expect low-friction digital interactions and want to avoid printing labels. DHL’s eCommerce Trends Report shows that convenience now carries significant commercial weight: flexible return options not only drive purchase completion but also improve resale velocity by returning items to inventory more quickly.
DHL estimates that $62.5 billion in global revenue is lost annually when returned goods are discarded instead of redirected to resale channels. The U.S. alone saw $890 billion in returns in 2024, according to the National Retail Federation, an amount larger than the annual revenues of most major retailers. Trade reports in 2025 also highlight the growing environmental scrutiny on returns, particularly in Europe, where regulators are tightening rules on textile waste and unsold inventory destruction.
Rebuilding Networks Around Value Recovery
DHL’s acquisition of Inmar Supply Chain Solutions has expanded its North American ReTurn Network to 11 sites specializing in processing e-commerce returns, excess inventory, and remarketing. Co-locating returns and fulfillment centers has become a strategic differentiator: it enables same-day inspection, restocking, and relisting, shrinking the window in which products lose value or risk being written off.
Executives say this model is designed to reframe returns from a cost center into a value recovery engine. Batch remarketing programs route goods into secondary markets, helping retailers recapture up to 90% of resale value while keeping items out of landfills. According to DHL, these programs are increasingly important for categories where cycle times are short and fashion relevance erodes quickly.
Quotes supplied by DHL leadership reinforce this shift toward convenience, speed, and circularity, trends widely observed across the broader retail logistics sector. The company notes increasing Gen Z adoption of labelless returns, with 32% favoring the option for its simplicity. At the same time, operational leaders emphasize the importance of integrated networks that merge transportation, returns processing, and recommerce strategy into a single workflow.
Where Returns Strategy Is Quietly Heading Next
One development gaining traction inside major logistics networks is the use of item-level product data, fabric composition, SKU lineage, prior handling, to determine the most profitable disposition path within seconds. As more jurisdictions tighten rules on textile waste and unsold inventory destruction, this granular data foundation is becoming a practical requirement rather than an efficiency upgrade. Companies able to pair that intelligence with localized processing capacity, as DHL and others are now building out, will find themselves positioned to navigate regulatory shifts with less friction and greater operational stability.
