{"id":101519,"date":"2025-04-28T11:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=101519"},"modified":"2025-04-28T12:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:14:34","slug":"packaging-in-online-fashion-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/verpackungen-im-online-fashionhandel\/","title":{"rendered":"DS Smith calls for sustainable packaging in online fashion retail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A study by DS Smith shows that despite consumer demand for sustainable alternatives, the amount of plastic packaging in German online fashion retail continues to increase.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recent analyses commissioned by DS Smith have shown that, despite consumers' growing demands for sustainability, the German online fashion trade <strong>Large quantities of plastic packaging continue<\/strong> are used. In 2023, fashion retailers sent out around 791 million plastic mailing bags - over two million per day.<\/p>\n<p>In a European country comparison with France, the UK, Italy, Poland and Spain<strong> this puts Germany in second place<\/strong> in the use of \u201esecondary\u201d plastic shipping packaging in online fashion retail, directly to the UK.<\/p><div class=\"packa-in-post-alle\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"packa-1237973731\"><div id=\"packa-2567599448\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/newsletter\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"PJ Self-promotion English 03\"><!--noptimize--><img src=\"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03.png\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03.png 840w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-300x75.png 300w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-768x192.png 768w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-18x5.png 18w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-332x83.png 332w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-664x166.png 664w, https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PJ-Eigenwerbung-English-03-688x172.png 688w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" width=\"840\" height=\"210\"  style=\" max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" \/><!--\/noptimize--><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The forecasts are alarming: <strong>The amount of plastic packaging used in the German online fashion market could rise to 5.8 billion by 2030<\/strong> - an increase of 42 per cent compared to today. This is in contrast to bricks-and-mortar retail, where the use of single-use plastic bags was already severely restricted in 2022.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Consumers demand alternatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to the survey commissioned by DS Smith <strong>75 per cent of consumers in Germany want packaging alternatives to plastic<\/strong> - provided these are available. More than two thirds (69 %) prefer packaging made of corrugated cardboard or paper. Almost half of respondents said they felt guilty if their online order was packaged in plastic.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, 53 per cent of consumers would specifically shop at retailers that use recyclable packaging. 38 per cent would even be prepared to pay a surcharge for plastic-free packaging.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Sustainability initiatives of individual retailers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Some providers have already made the switch: Zalando, Europe's largest platform for fashion and lifestyle, has been using paper mailing bags made from recycled material and FSC-certified virgin fibres since 2020. This switch led to an increase in customer satisfaction of 16 percentage points within a year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201eNevertheless, reducing single-use plastic remains one of the biggest challenges for online retailers on the road to greater sustainability. Finding a perfect solution is not easy - especially as more sustainable alternatives are not yet fully scalable or do not simultaneously fulfil the requirements of environmental friendliness and operational feasibility.\u201c<\/p>\n<p><strong>David Fischer<\/strong>, Director Logistics Sustainability and Packaging at Zalando<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Need for action by retailers, the packaging industry and politicians<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The survey results suggest that consumers primarily see online retailers (45 %) and packaging manufacturers (40 %) as having a responsibility to reduce the proportion of plastic.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201eSticking to plastic packaging with low recycling rates does not necessarily mean lower costs, but in the worst case scenario, a loss of reputation if companies ignore the wishes of consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Uwe V\u00e4th, <\/strong>Managing Director DS Smith Packaging Germany and Switzerland<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>DS Smith is also calling for legislative measures, such as the gradual phasing out of certain plastics, in order to create innovation-friendly framework conditions. In order to play an active role in shaping change, DS Smith has, according to its own information <strong>all 700 of the company's own designers have been trained in so-called cycle design.<\/strong> The aim is to develop packaging solutions that are both recyclable and economically viable.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source:<\/em> DS Smith<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of plastic packaging is increasing in German online fashion retail, although 75 per cent of consumers prefer paper-based alternatives, according to a study by DS Smith.","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":101522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","rank_math_description":"Im deutschen Online-Fashionhandel steigt laut DS Smith die Zahl der Kunststoffverpackungen, obwohl  Verbraucher papierbasierte Alternativen bevorzugen.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Fashion","rank_math_title":"","csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[58657,21745,54,31,32,1487],"class_list":{"0":"post-101519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-packmittel-und-packstoffe","8":"tag-ds-smith","9":"tag-e-commerce","10":"tag-kunststoff-und-verbunde","11":"tag-nachhaltigkeit-und-green-packaging","12":"tag-packmittel-und-packstoffe","13":"tag-papier-pappe-karton","14":"cs-entry","15":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"vimeo_video":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}