We all love shopping and filling our closets with high-fashion outfits. The trendy colourful clothes often fly out of the shop really quick and easy, but have you ever wondered what would happen to the unsold clothes in the stores? Yes!! We know new doubts have started revolving in your mind. Where do these clothes finally go?
Branded stores have different ideas and models in place to deal with dead stock and unsold clothes. No matter how good the quality and fabric, few pieces are left unsold for a long time. Storing it safely and trying to retain the quality and shine of the fabric will be an expensive affair to the retailers and store owners. Firstly, the brands try their best to sell the clothes at discounts with attractive periodic sales, then the clothes are sold to discount stores or online discounters. Unsold seasonal clothes like sweaters and jackets are retained with the store till the next season comes around and they will be available to the customers at slightly less cost. There may be minor enhancements to recover the quality and charm of the clothing.
Few generous fashion brands donate the deterred clothes to charity and foundations by removing their label, before donating clothes to the charitable organizations they try to sell these clothes to their employees at a huge discount. The unsold branded clothes are sometimes sold to cloth dealers at less cost which is upcycled by adding new design and detailing. Few vendors in the fashion market exclusively deal with dead stock and clothes left even after trying to sell for few seasons Upcoming and aspiring fashion designers grab these unsold clothes for their fabric experiments and to explore different designs creatively, few organizations around the globe pick up these clothes and donate it to the developing countries or people who are in need.
On the other side, there is a harsh way of dealing with unsold clothes. The most luxurious and expensive brands burn or dump the unsold clothes as they are reluctant towards sales and discounts. The brand image of the merchandise is the primary concern for the retailers, and they restrain selling their clothes at low cost. This idea of burning clothes has a huge impact on the environment and it’s not the ideal way of waste management. However, with a sense of responsibility towards the environment, fashion and apparel brands are thinking about new ways of using unsold merchandise.
As the concept of recycling is emerging few brands have created warehouses to recycle the clothes and enhance the design and quality, they are sometimes sent to the design studio or manufacturers for reusing the fabric. The fashion industry is picking up fresh ways to create a sustainable ecosystem by recycling and reusing.
To avoid all the chaos of unsold clothes, smart fashion brands deal with this issue with business strategies and market analysis which helps them to manufacture clothes according to the demand and taste of the customers and thereby reducing the waste.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fashions-big-question-what-to-do-with-all-those-unsold-clothes-11597328695 to know more.
