Fair fashion with a pioneer spirit
Recolution has been making sustainable fashion out of Hamburg since 2010. What started as a streetwear label focused on T-shirts is now a broad assortment. "We've significantly expanded our portfolio since then, with underwear, socks, pants, and knitwear," says Marius, Head of Order Management at Recolution, responsible for logistics and order management.
He's been on board for almost nine years and has experienced the growth firsthand. "When I started, we were six or seven permanent employees plus a few helpers. Now we're more than 20, plus another 10 to 12 helpers." With growth came structures and departments, and Marius, by his own account, is "still a little involved in everything."
The brand's stance is clear: "We're a bit of a pioneer in this fair fashion bubble, we've been on the market for quite a while, and we share the niche with many friendly competitors." But growth also made one thing obvious: the existing returns process was increasingly hitting its limits.
Marius leads logistics and order management at Recolution.
The challenge: paper slips and manual refunds
For a long time, Recolution handled returns the analog way. "We basically used to include a return slip with every package, sometimes with a label too," Marius explains. A first digitization step came later: instead of a label inside the package, customers got a DHL link on the website to print themselves. "That was the first small step toward digitization, also for sustainability. The label doesn't actually get used in most cases."
Even so, the process stayed cumbersome. Returns came back unannounced. "We didn't know what was coming our way. We'd unpack, evaluate the return slip, book the items out and back in, and then manually refund the money across all the different payment methods — a real grind." Exchanges had to be created by hand in the backend as replacement orders, going out with a corresponding delay.
The biggest time sink was the refund itself. "You had to filter by payment method, log into PayPal for example, and type everything in." On the customer side, things got harder still: "It was especially tricky when customers didn't fill in the return slip at all. Packages came back without an order number, and the team first had to figure out which order the return even belonged to." When a campaign produced lots of returns at once, manual refunds dragged on.
Why Recolution chose 8returns
Recolution had been looking for a returns management solution for a while. As return volumes grew, the pressure to act grew with them. The combination of a better customer experience, automated processes, and continuous platform development is what ultimately convinced them.
"We'd actually wanted to change this for ages, we just hadn't found the right offer," says Marius. "With the growth and the volume of returns, it eventually became worth it." The idea of a custom returns portal turned into a search for an off-the-shelf solution. "Then the idea of a returns portal came up, and we landed on 8returns pretty quickly. It was up and running fast."
The fit was the most convincing part. "Everything we wanted to improve was in there: a better customer experience and the operational relief we'd hoped for." Another factor was the continuous platform development. "You were very open and innovative from the start, and that matched our vision well. I had the feeling it wasn't a rigid model." Marius still appreciates the ongoing iteration today: "You're proactive with changes, like the withdrawal button, and you stay on top of it."
Onboarding was equally smooth. "Both the frontend and the backend are quite intuitive. The help section was great from day one and always up to date, with screenshots and short videos." His verdict: "Easy, fast, and uncomplicated. If I can't really remember it, it can't have been that bad."
From Recolution's range: sustainably produced caps in different colors.
The results: less effort, faster refunds, and more retained revenue
The biggest effect is on manual workload. "Just refunding returns used to take about two hours a day of someone's time," Marius explains. "Together with all the paperwork, easily 8 to 10 hours per week have now disappeared."
A second lever is revenue. With 8returns, store credit was added as a refund option. "That keeps the revenue inside the business, and we see really high rates on it." A small incentive amplifies the effect: "We incentivize it with 10 percent. When we tried it once without that incentive, you could clearly see the difference in the rate."
The impact is most visible in the customer experience. "We have a lot of repeat customers who've been with us for years and tell us: it's really cool that I can just do this myself, get the label as an email attachment, and get my money back faster." This used to be exactly where the bottlenecks built up, when returns from a campaign all hit at once.
The team also actively uses the returns data. "We evaluate return reasons, especially when we change cuts or switch to a different manufacturer. Our design team uses this a lot. There's an analytics tool from 8returns. For us, working with the export is even easier."
Summer look by Recolution: fair fashion staples made from sustainable materials.
Conclusion
Recolution shows how much a digitized returns process can move the needle, especially in fashion, where returns are a major factor. Instead of paper slips and manual transfers, a self-service flow now runs that saves the team several hours per week, keeps revenue inside the business, and wins with customers.
Marius's advice for other brands still considering the move? "You should take a good look at your processes: where are the biggest pain points, where are the biggest time sinks? Then check whether you can model that with a tool like 8returns, and weigh the savings against the cost." For a certain stage of maturity, the move is a clear yes: "If you're still on a hardcopy solution or something in between, this brings you a lot, especially on the experience side. I'd recommend every company take a close look at it."
All images courtesy of Recolution.
