Resale and repair
Reselling and repairing returned garments: the operator's guide
How to decide, at first touch, whether a returned garment is restocked, resold, repaired or written off, and what each route needs to work in practice.
19 October 2026 · 3 min read · Taimoor ul Hassan, founder, WeaveCycle
Decide what happens to a returned garment the first time someone handles it: restock, resell, repair or, as a last resort, write off. Give it one grade, one route and one record, and move it to the matching shelf straight away. Resale and repair only work when the channel and the repair capacity exist before you route anything to them.
This guide is the overview. Each section links to a deeper playbook.
Why decide at first touch?
Every extra touch costs labour and time, and time costs resale value. A garment that sits in a returns cage for two weeks can miss its season. Grading and routing at the bench, once, removes the second handling and the pile of "decide later" items. See what happens between the courier and the shelf.
What does the inspection check?
Identity (right SKU and variant), odour, stains, tears, hardware, seams, tags and packaging. Record what you see as a grade and a defect code, not as free text. See the condition grading checklist.
Which grades and routes should you use?
Keep it short. Three grades plus a flag:
| Grade | Means | Default route |
|---|---|---|
| A | Sellable as new | Restock |
| B | Sellable with a discount or small fix | Resale (outlet, second-hand) |
| C | Needs repair, or only the materials are useful | Repair, or recycle if repair is not worth it |
| Not saleable | Unsafe, contaminated, counterfeit | Hold for a documented decision |
The defaults are a starting point. The right route for a given item is the one that recovers the most after costs. See restock, resell, repair or write off: how do you decide?
When is repair worth it?
When the repair plus handling costs less than the value it adds, and the repaired item has a buyer. In-house repairs should be quick and repeatable: buttons, short seams, hems, de-pilling, steaming. Send specialist cleaning, leather and complex stains out. Skip repair when the estimate exceeds the uplift. See the per-item cost formula.
Where should B-grade items be sold?
Your own site's outlet or second-hand section first, where you keep the margin and the customer. Then a marketplace you already use. Then a liquidation buyer, with a record of who bought the lot and what they plan to do with it. Refresh your fee and price assumptions monthly.
What about items that cannot be sold?
Record the reason, the evidence and who decided. In the EU, large companies may no longer destroy unsold clothing, and returns count as unsold. Destruction, including sending to recycling, is allowed only in listed cases. See the EU ban on destroying returned clothes.
What should you record and report?
Per item: order reference, SKU, grade, route, repair estimate and actual cost, and the value the route brought in. Report weekly on volume, route mix, repair success rate and recovered value per item. See the real cost of returns and how to measure recovered value.
How should you pilot it?
Pick a handful of SKUs, run the grade-and-route process for four weeks, and decide in advance what result would make you scale it and what would make you stop. Write the stop rule down before you start.
Keeping stock records straight
Returned items should not land in sellable stock before they are graded. In Shopify, receive them into a returns location or mark them unavailable until they are cleared. See how to reconcile returned stock between Shopify, accounting and resale and how to route return labels by SKU.
Where WeaveCycle fits
WeaveCycle reads the customer's photo before the refund when the return reason calls for one, values every route your policy allows by your own numbers, and records the route your team chooses. See how it works.