# The Price of Fashion: Decoding Retail Policies Amidst Rising Supply Chain Costs By Travis Tokar · Published 2023-11-17 · Updated 2026-03-12 · Professional AV on MarketScale Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/pro-av/retail-returns-impact-on-supply-chain-and-pricing-strategies > Rising supply chain costs are forcing fashion retailers to reconsider return policies that once defined their customer experience ## Key points - Rising supply chain costs are forcing fashion retailers to reconsider return policies that once defined their customer experience Block Field Recently, fast fashion retailer [H&M backtracked on a decision](https://marketscale.com/industries/retail/customer-satisfaction-and-reduce-try-and-return-purchases/) to charge its UK customers a small return fee on online purchases returned to its brick-and-mortar outlets. But the price of fashion is high, and recent trends like [‘try-and-return’ purchases](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/online-free-returns-1.6654967) have prompted several clothing brands to change their return policies. So, how do underlying supply chain factors like fuel and labor costs impact retail pricing and policies? [**Travis Tokar**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travistokar/), Ph.D., a Professor of Supply Chain Management at the [Texas Christian University](https://www.tcu.edu/), offers insight into the ‘price of fashion’ that retailers like H&M navigate. He explains, “I think that we could look at things like increased fuel and labor in the supply chain costs. That contributes to product as well being more expensive,” linking these elements to the decisions retailers make regarding customer policies. Increased fuel and labor in the supply chain costs contributes to product as well being more expensive.— Travis Tokar, Ph.D., Professor of Supply Chain Management at Texas Christian University Tags: Fast Fashion, H&M, retail industry, return policies, Travis Tokar --- Source: MarketScale, https://www.marketscale.com/industries/pro-av/retail-returns-impact-on-supply-chain-and-pricing-strategies. Published for AI indexing and citation; cite the canonical URL. Site guide for agents: https://www.marketscale.com/llms.txt