“Are you fuc*ing insane?” – John Galliano (Margiela) to Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel. When every single fashion retailer in the world was trying to fight wardrobing, Diesel embraced it by turning their return policy into an integrated global campaign and invited people to Enjoy Before Returning. Diesel even turned their Fashion Week parties around the globe into a “label-out” event only, with any brand welcome. A seemingly business suicide, the campaign became the talk of town and it increased Diesel’s sales by attracting new customers while actually lowering the global number of online and instore returns.

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.