China’s online fashion retailers are implementing oversized, stiff, and brightly colored clothing tags in an effort to curb the industry’s notoriously high return rate.

The trend has gone viral on Chinese social media this week amid the annual Double 11 shopping festival, also known as Singles’ Day, which this year began in mid-October and culminates on Nov. 11 — the date that gives the event its name.

On microblogging platform Weibo, the hashtag “giant hangtags to curb returns” has drawn more than 40 million views, with consumers posting photos of newly purchased clothes bearing cardboard tags as large as A4 paper and stamped with messages such as “no refund once the tag is removed.”

A tag manufacturer in the southwestern Sichuan province told local media that its new oversized clothing tags are designed to be conspicuous, making it harder to wear the garments without removing them or to return clothing after use.

First rolled out in March 2025, the use of such tags gained popularity among clothing companies in the lead-up to this year’s Double 11, with some styles selling out, according to one tag manufacturer.

China’s online clothing sector has one of the highest return rates in the country’s e-commerce ecosystem, with women’s apparel return rates as high as 60% to 80%, according to industry estimates. 

The high return rate is driven in part by return policies on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, which allow shoppers to send items back within seven days at little to no cost. Such policies were implemented in 2014 to encourage consumers to order multiple sizes or styles and keep only what fits.

But retailers’ complaints about shrinking profit margins have grown in recent years, in part because they must shoulder the cost of returns, while expenses for logistics, cleaning, and restocking continue to rise. 

Merchants are also increasingly frustrated by a phenomenon known in China as haoyangmao, literally “gathering wool” — taking financial advantage of discounts — in this context buying clothing, wearing it for travel, photoshoots, or social events, and then returning it for a full refund. Fast fashion and influencer-driven consumer culture have exacerbated the problem in China, with shoppers often buying outfits for short-term use in livestreams or on social media. 

Last year, students in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province made headlines after they returned over 400 skirts after a school performance. A similar case involving university students seeking returns for 80 costumes was reported in the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. 

In online comments, merchants report that returned garments often arrive with sweat stains, makeup, perfume odors, or pet hair, making some items impossible to resell as new.

This year, major e-commerce platforms, including Taobao, Pinduoduo, and JD.com, have scrapped their controversial “refund-only” policies, which previously allowed consumers to request refunds without returning goods.

The use of oversized tags has largely gained support among government commentators and netizens. “The tags don’t interfere with genuine customers who just want to try things on, but they effectively block return abusers, without discouraging real potential buyers,” a commentary from state-run People’s Daily said Wednesday.

A top comment on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, reads: “It protects the rights of regular consumers, preventing them from buying clothes that someone has worn for six days.”

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Screenshots of A4-sized hangtags on items purchased from online fashion retailers. From Weibo and reedited by Sixth Tone)