Every return puts a strain on our environment.
Back in 2019 there were already more than 3.65 billion parcel shipments in Germany. Since 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic, this number has increased further: on average, order volumes rose by more than 90%, with German consumers ordering around 2.3 more products than usual. This goes hand in hand with a similarly growing number of returns: the absolute number of returns rose again in 2020 and is estimated at 315 million return parcels. In fashion in particular, return rates can be as high as 50%, which causes not only high costs for online retailers but also enormous environmental damage: in addition to the energy and resources used in production, there is packaging waste and CO2 emissions from transport. On average, this amounts to around 200-1000 grams per parcel.
The Legal Framework
In 2020 there was a revision of the Circular Economy Act (Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz), which is intended to reduce the destruction of goods, long delivery routes and thus also economic losses for retailers. Specifically, the legislator obliges retailers to handle products in a demonstrably responsible way, so that the state can act more efficiently against the waste of resources in future and creates barriers to the destruction of returns and surplus stock. Instead, a sensible use is to be found for the products concerned and their utilisation guaranteed for at least three years; in future, corresponding measures and intentions for avoiding returns must also be documented and disclosed.
Return Management at erlich
Every return means not only extra work for you, it also has environmental consequences. That is why we want to avoid returns together with you as far as possible, because every return causes additional transport and packaging. To do this, we want to keep raising awareness of return prevention, for you and for ourselves, by giving concrete information about the impact of returns and asking you to return products only after careful consideration. If one of our products still doesn't meet your expectations 100%, you can send it back to us within 30 days. For returns from Germany and Austria, we retain a flat fee of EUR 4.90 per order. We then prepare the returned items with the greatest care so that they can be resold or recycled: this is how we want to avoid disposing of products at all costs.
We Make It Easy and Help You Choose Right
Detailed Product Representations
To give you as accurate a picture of our products as possible before you buy, we provide every product with true-to-life images from several angles and show our products on models with diverse body shapes. In future, we will also add video footage to give you an even better impression of the proportions. We also take particular care to provide detailed descriptions and a list of the relevant product features with all the important details. These include not only material composition and care instructions, but also the measurements of individual elements and the reference sizes of our models. So feel free to take your time and find out all about our products and their particular features. This helps avoid unnecessary returns.
Perfect Fit Before Trying On
One of the most common reasons for returns is ordering a product in the wrong size, which is why for every product you will find not only a size chart with the relevant measurements, but also precise instructions on how to identify and measure your size. Our size guide, which covers everything important about the individual fit of the products, and customer reviews of the products and their fit provide additional help. So that the piece you want fits first time, we ask you to take particular care when choosing your size.
We're Here for You
If you are still unsure about the right size or the right product, you can contact us at any time by email. We are happy to help and support you with your choice!
To keep the rate low, we want to keep raising awareness of return avoidance, for you and for ourselves, by providing concrete information about the effects of returns and asking you to return products only after careful consideration. If one of our products still does not meet your expectations 100%, it can be sent back to us from Germany and Austria within 30 days. We charge a flat return fee of €4.90 for this. We then prepare the returned items with the greatest care so that they can be sold again or recycled: this is how we want to avoid our products being disposed of at all costs.
Our erlich Quality
So that you can enjoy your products for a long time, you will find specific care instructions and tips for each of our items. So that you enjoy your products for a long time, we ask you to care for them accordingly. This also helps you avoid returns.
We Value Our Returns and Treat Them with the Greatest Care.
Packaging & Protection
To guarantee the reusability of our products, we explain how products should be packaged and handled when returning them. By returning unworn and unwashed products in original packaging, resale is usually no problem.
Regional Processing
Your return goes straight back to our warehouse, where it is prepared under the strictest hygiene guidelines and then sold again. We also reuse the outer packaging so that we need less new packaging material. Our returned goods stay in Germany and are processed and managed locally. We send defective products straight back to the manufacturer.
Reuse Instead of Disposal
Intact products are refurbished and put back on sale, so the returned product goes back into the regular sales cycle. If this is not possible, we sell the B-grade items in sample sales and regularly pass them on to the imperfect-goods shop "Mit Ecken und Kanten". In addition, we donate remaining products to non-profit organisations: for example, we have supported Cologne's homeless aid with more than 600 products. With these recovery steps, we want to do everything we can to avoid our products being disposed of.
