Digital Innovation for Sustainable Fashion: Virtual Fitting Rooms as a Strategy to Minimize Waste and E-commerce Returns

Abstract

<p>This study aims to determine the efficacy of digital innovations and Virtual Fitting Rooms (VFRs) in minimizing online returns and waste in the fashion industry. This study used both primary and secondary data, including 1) a narrative literature review approach based on data from multiple secondary sources, including scientific journals, e-commerce reports, tech company websites, and other relevant and verified sources, 2) an online survey with sixteen respondents and eight semi-structured interviews with tech companies and virtual fitting rooms developers were conducted to establish baseline data of their perception on the role of developers and VFR tech companies concerning sustainable fashion and reverse logistics. This study assessed information of current VFR apps, including issues with technology development, relationships with e-commerce retailers, effect of VFR in reducing online returns and increasing customer satisfaction. Collected data determined the effects of existing VFRs and digital solutions adopted by the fashion industry to help customers in the sizing and fitting process to reduce online returns and e-commerce waste.</p> <p>The results highlight that VFRs are effective in minimizing returns, increasing customer satisfaction, and promoting sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions due to transportation. This study shows that VFRs could reduce 31.3% of reverse logistic costs and minimize store sizing sampling. There is room for future research on the usage of VFR in 3D cloth simulation engines in pre-production and designers’ collections, which could potentially have a more significant environmental impact on the minimization of fashion waste and overproduction.</p>