For the launch of the FW19 collection, Diesel embraced wardrobing as something normal, and turned their return policy into the global campaign. The campaign encouraged people to enjoy the clothes before they return it with exclusive fashion week parties in 10 cities where you could enter only if you had your tag out. Photos of people wearing the tag out would also count as discounts for future purchases.

Wardrobing is the act of buying clothes, wearing them for the occasion and returning them within 14 days for a full refund. Wardrobing costs the fashion industry $15 billions/year. How can a brand fight it? Some fashion retailers go as far as blacklisting customers who usually return items.

If nothing can make people stop wardrobing, then why try to stop them at all? For the launch of the FW19 collection, Diesel embraced wardrobing and encouraged people to ENJOY BEFORE RETURNING.

Some fashion retailers even go as far as blacklisting customers who usually return items. Does that work? No. People still return clothes. It’s a behaviour so deeply embedded into this generation DNA that maybe the best way to fight it is to not fight it at all.

Diesel’s return policy became the central part of the global communication, whether it was turned into a song for the launch film or slapped all over fashion visuals, while portraying consumers planning on returning and wearing the tag out unapologetically. The campaign was timed to the global Fashion Week events, when wardrobing spikes, and Diesel’s parties were accessible only to those who kept the labels out, no matter the brand. People’s photos with themselves wearing DIESEL item’s with the tag out counted as VALID discount coupons for their next purchase on ecommerce.

People called us crazy. Competition called us crazy. Well, besides becoming the talk of town, the approach helped to actually REDUCE the Diesel returns by 9% globally and the sales went up with 24% GLOBALLY, where more than half came from new customers – people in the younger age groups who never considered DIESEL before.

Wardrobing is the act of buying clothes, wearing them for the occasion and returning them within 14 days for a full refund. Wardrobing costs the fashion industry $15 billions/year. How can a brand fight it? While the biggest fashion retailers go as far as blacklisting customers who usually return items, Diesel embraced wardrobing and encouraged people to ENJOY BEFORE RETURNING. This move has actually helped DIESEL increase their sales with 24% globally, out of which more than half came from new customers, aged 18-26.