With the advent of online shopping becoming easier than ever, there has emerged a significant and growing problem. "The relationship between consumer and returns has become unhealthy," explains Eco-Age's Elizabeth Bennett. Recent research revealed that up to 30% of shoppers deliberately over-purchase and subsequently return unwanted items. "It’s suggested that between 30 and 40% of clothes bought online are now returned to the seller. With more of us than ever shopping online – a habit only increased by the pandemic – the rate of returns is reaching unsustainable levels," says Elizabeth.
The problem with all these returns is that while we assume the returned item will end up back on the virtual shelf and sold on, this often isn't the case. Much of what is returned either cannot be resold or is too expensive for companies to prepare for reselling. "Instead, it ends up going to landfill," reveals Elizabeth.
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Cult Mia is helping to tackle the high rate of returns with their new initiative
It's estimated that 92 million tons of such textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry. According to statistics revealed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, every second, the equivalent of a rubbish truck load of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill. "Circularity is key to solving one of the most important problems the fashion industry is trying to solve. Waste." Nina Briance, founder of Cult Mia, tells Hello! Fashion, "Waste comes from a wide range of sources, but the two main contributions that we see are overproduction on the brand side and mindless consumption on the customer front."
The London-based entrepreneur grew up in Mexico and started her career at the United Nations before launching the luxury e-tailer which has just launched their own, 'Made-to-measure' service as a way to combat waste. They are the very first platform in this space offering digital made-to-measure services, meaning you can order something and have it tailored to fit you perfectly before it arrives, reducing the likelihood of you throwing the garment away or returning it. It also ensures that you never have to compromise on the fit of those stand-out pieces.
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Nina Briance worked at the UN and Moda Operandi before going to start her own business
"It's a new way to shop that enables shoppers to submit their measurements on the site and receive bespoke tailor-made pieces," says Nina, "The Made-to-Measure initiative builds on our Cult Causes mission, further fostering our inclusive culture, enabling shoppers of all shapes and sizes to wear their favourite sustainable brands… This zero waste approach (demand-led, no dead stock, and no returns) is one of the reasons why we earned Positive Luxury's Butterfly Mark this summer."
Sustainability and social activism has always been at the core of Cult Mia's business model. After studying International Relations at Stanford Nina landed her first job at the United Nations where she joined the 'Women & Trade' team. "Our mission was to support female entrepreneurs in the least developed countries to scale their microenterprises," The women the scheme supported ranged from Peruvian jewellers to Kenyan coffee farmers, who built their start-ups against all odds of poverty and violence. From there followed a stint in finance at UBS and Goldman Sachs, then working in strategy at Moda Operandi where she founded the business alongside studying her Masters at London Business School.
Since then, Cult Mia has become renowned for their selection of sustainable brands with a distinctly luxe-high fashion edge. "The opportunity to lift up independent fashion designers was glaringly important and obvious to me," Nina confirms, "I'm excited to build on this mission and provide the platform to shop independent brands locally, directly, and online with ease." Since launching three years ago Nina has introduced over 400 brands, from 42 different countries, across 14 product categories to Cult Mia. The site was recognized this year as Draper's 2022 Best Independent Retailer.
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Cult Mia was recognized as Draper's Best Independent Retailer this year
"When the business launched, we were focused on identifying the brands that deserve to be known from around the world," says Nina, "Via our Cult Causes onboarding strategy, we highlight our platform values, demonstrate our commitment to encourage customers to make more conscious purchases, incentivize brands to make internal improvements, and work towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals with our brands."
Their sustainable sourcing strategy was developed alongside with Positive Luxury, and it enables customers to shop brands that are pre-vetted from a values-perspective, so that you can shop with a clearer conscience.
"In an over saturated market, you need to find a way to relate to customers directly," Nina tells us, "Sustainability has become the buzzword in the industry, but through a personalised service, you’re getting to the heart of why a customer should shop with Cult Mia directly, offering bespoke and one-of-a-kind products via a superior service with a guaranteed fit, whilst ticking the sustainable boxes customers are starting to care more and more about."
Not compromising on sustainability or sizing? That’s something we can all get behind.
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