Buying clothes online is something that ten years ago, when shipping costs and free returns were a rarity, only the bravest did, since the chances of buying a garment and having to keep it (or pay for the return) even though you didn't like it or it was useful they were older.
The data shows how things have changed in just a decade: according to the
Online Fashion Report in Spain 2023
, prepared by Modaes, in 2013 only 8.8% of consumers had made at least one fashion purchase through of the
online
channel
.
In 2022, after a rise during the pandemic, the percentage stood at 46.7.
Even so, the fact that in 2021 that percentage was 46.8 may give the sensation of a certain stagnation, accompanied by the return to physical stores that occurred after the end of the covid-19 restrictions.
With data and news that warn about the environmental impact of electronic commerce, many people also choose to go to a physical store as a more sustainable option.
However, is this always the case?
The answer is a big “it depends”, in which multiple factors must be taken into account, but above all if what we buy is new or second-hand.
Daniel Pinto Pajares, professor of the Master in e-Commerce at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), exemplifies it in the following way: “A second-hand product that arrives from Germany to Spain requires transportation that emits more greenhouse gases. what the transport of a first-hand garment purchased three blocks from my house can emit.
But be careful: that garment bought in my neighborhood may come from Bangladesh in origin, while the second-hand garment bought in Germany is domestic German manufacturing.
In this case, what is more polluting?”
The bad thing about
online
: emissions, packaging, returns
On the list of cons of
online
commerce , the emissions generated by transportation usually appear among the most mentioned.
It's not that physical stores don't have this problem—the clothes, after all, have to reach them—but delivering 60 products in a store is not the same as delivering them from home to home.
When faced with the same product, the physical store would be the most sustainable option.
“There are many companies that are being sustainable in that last mile, for example with bicycle delivery, but not the majority.
This distribution generates congestion and traffic and an unfair distribution of cities, which in the end are configured so that people move by car so that goods come and go,” explains Celia Ojeda, director of the Biodiversity Area of Greenpeace Spain.
If you want to be less polluting when purchasing
online
, she points out, it is better to opt for delivery at a collection point than at home.
The urgency and speed with which we expect those packages to arrive at our house is also a problem.
Gema Gómez, director of Slow Fashion Next, mentions that these rapid deliveries mean that logistics cannot be organized well.
“Many of these trucks are not optimized and the packages are gigantic with a tiny product inside, air is really transported.
The increase in
e-commerce
increases CO2 emissions in cities by approximately 20% annually.
We are directly affecting the quality of the air, our health, by carrying empty trucks,” she says.
Aggressive campaigns and free returns also make many people buy clothes with the intention of returning them.
“People buy three sizes, try them on at home and return them,” says Gema Gómez, who adds that on Black Friday, for example, 50% of the clothing purchased
online
is returned (the usual is 30 %).
Returns not only mean more emissions on the way back, but many of those clothes end up directly in landfills.
Another aspect in which physical stores beat
online
commerce is packaging.
“Many products come in packaging, this occurs either in a physical store or
online
.
But the packaging, like the typical cardboard box in which we receive orders at home, does not occur in a physical store, which, at most, will deliver a paper or plastic bag to the customer," explains Daniel Pinto Pajares, of the UNIR.
Although we must not forget that, since bags are charged in almost all establishments and also out of environmental awareness, many customers choose to bring their own and take the product without using a bag.
When the only sustainable alternative is
online
With everything said so far, it might seem that buying clothes online is always worse than doing so in a physical store, but this comparison can only be made if we are talking about the same garment from the same store.
If the only physical option we have on hand is a
fast fashion
chain , it will never be better than buying
online
from a sustainable brand.
“ Online
shopping
has opened up a world of possibilities and brings us alternative consumption that does not exist in our city,” says Celia Ojeda.
“There are many small brands, such as footwear brands in the Levante area, that cannot sustain themselves by putting their products in stores, they do not produce at that level.
For them, online
sales
are what makes them reach the consumer,” she adds.
“I would always choose the sustainable fashion brand, even if it is
online
,” agrees Gema Gómez.
All the experts interviewed insist that the issue cannot be raised by demonizing one modality and always assuming the other as good.
“We cannot answer 100% clearly about which modality is more or less sustainable.
I believe that the most important thing in these issues is that consumers have at hand extensive knowledge about the product cycle: how and where it was produced, under what working conditions, what the journey was from the origin to the points of sale, how the raw material has been extracted for its production, etc.,” reflects Daniel Pinto.
What it is about, if sustainability is sought, is changing the consumption system.
“We must encourage local consumption, consume what we have nearby.
Also, always try to repair or opt for second hand.
If I consume what I have nearby, repair what I already own or exchange it with people nearby, that helps me reduce the footprint of
online
shopping that I also sometimes make,” says Celia Ojeda.
Because compulsively buying online from sustainable brands or
second-hand
apps doesn't fix anything either.
Online
commerce
, they warn, encourages unconscious consumption, when the ideal would be to slow down and decrease.
“You
click
and buy.
Maybe the fact of going to a store makes you think: you have to go, you have to try it on, you have to think more,” adds Ojeda.
“More than half of the population between 20 and 35 years old currently has five items of clothing in their closet that they have never worn.
"You have to give much more life to each garment to help offset its footprint."
Small sustainable fashion brands are also aware of the impact of
online
consumption , so in many cases they are also thinking about ways to reduce their footprint.
Gema Gómez gives as an example the Entregasostenible.org movement, which seeks, as indicated on its website, to "value all
e-commerce
committed to sustainability and encourage conscious decision-making by the consumer."
There are also initiatives to save on packaging and ensure that these are truly recyclable or companies that try to reduce the impact of the last mile as much as possible by using, for example, electric vehicles.
Although, as Daniel Pinto recalls, they usually only talk about the benefits of this type of vehicle and not that "their batteries pollute a lot, from their manufacturing to their disposal."
The answer lies, therefore, in thinking and analyzing each purchase.
“It is also important to support the new system [of sustainable fashion] that is being born.
If you cannot have physical stores right now, do not hesitate to purchase
online
,” says Gema Gómez.
All this when it has been decided that this new garment is really needed.
“The most sustainable garment is the one you already have in your closet,” concludes Celia Ojeda.