How Pact Turned Returns Into a Revenue Engine with Treet

A strategic pivot turned 100,000 stranded units into a high-impact resale program, boosting revenue, loyalty, and sustainability.

Returns are often treated as a necessary evil, an expensive and unsexy byproduct of ecommerce. But for Pact, the sustainable apparel brand known for its commitment to organic cotton and fair trade practices, a supply chain crisis forced them to think differently.

Faced with over 100,000 returned units trapped in limbo during the de minimis changes, Pact turned to Treet and Fillogic to build a smarter returns system that didn’t just clean up a mess—but became a permanent, profitable part of their operations. The result: faster inventory recovery, improved margins, and a self-perpetuating loyalty loop that keeps customers engaged and returning.

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The Challenge

A broken returns pipeline, and no good options

Coming out of their biggest holiday season ever, Pact was staring down a serious problem. In the midst of a rushed warehouse transition, returns were at the bottom of the list of priorities. That left 100,000 returned items stranded across returns hubs, warehouses, and the U.S.–Mexico border.

“We were focused on getting containers out and orders fulfilled. Returns fell to the bottom of the list,” said Drew Cook, Pact’s President and CFO. “We didn’t want to slow down our new warehouse by bogging them down with learning our returns process. But the returns were stacking up—and chewing into our wallet quickly.”

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Donating the product would’ve been a financial blow. Processing everything internally would’ve strained fulfillment. Pact needed a solution that could handle the mess, fast, and without compromising growth.

The Solution

A resale-integrated reverse logistics program

Rather than patching the problem, Pact reimagined it. They partnered with Treet and Fillogic to create a return and resale infrastructure that could triage, grade, and resell inventory as quickly and profitably as possible.

Thanks to Fillogic’s improved intake and grading process, more returns are now resold as “new”.

For those B-grade returns: 

• Fillogic handles the intake, inspection, grading, and routing of returns
  
  
• Treet powers a branded resale site, Pact Circle, where returned and second-quality items are sold directly to customers
  
  
• Peer-to-peer resale was layered in, allowing customers to sell old Pact items to each other and receive credit or cash payouts
  
  

Together, this creates a new value loop: customers offload pre-loved Pact gear, get rewarded with store credit, and use that credit to shop again—keeping inventory and loyalty inside the brand ecosystem.

“Returns are possibly the most wasteful, inefficient, and costly aspect of running an apparel business,” said Drew. “Offering resale ensures those logistics costs aren’t wasted. Even products that can’t be sold at full price can still drive revenue and give customers access to items they love.”

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The Results

‍In less than two months:

• $100k+ in resale revenue  
• ~6,500 units sold on Pact Circle
  
• 80% sell-through rate on Brand Direct inventory
  
• 4,800+ resale customers
  
• 68% of sold units from B-grade returns
  
• 78.5% of sellers chose store credit over cash
  
  

In just a few weeks, Pact Circle became a real revenue channel, not a pilot or a brand play, but a financially sound part of the business.

“It makes sense logistically, it makes sense operationally, and it makes sense financially,” said Drew. “And the brand benefit is undeniable.”

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Why It Worked

1. Resale Solved a Real, Expensive Problem

Pact wasn’t experimenting; they were triaging. After a sudden cross-border disruption, the brand was left with over 100,000 returned units sitting idle. Donating the product would’ve meant a massive financial hit, and processing those returns in-house would’ve slowed down new order fulfillment—hurting the business two times over.

Instead, Pact saw resale as a lever: not a future wishlist item, but an immediate, cost-saving and revenue generating necessity. By rerouting returns into a branded resale flow, they unlocked a margin-positive solution that turned idle inventory into sellable stock, without burdening their warehouse or internal dev team.

2. Speed and Specialization Made It Possible

Most returns solutions stall because internal teams are stretched thin. Pact had a lean development team and competing priorities. Instead of shelving the idea, they built around that constraint.

They partnered with Treet for resale tech, Fillogic for reverse logistics, and let each team run their play. Fillogic built a tight integration with Pact’s return platform (Happy Returns), graded and routed inventory, and instantly pushed eligible items to Treet for resale—no bottlenecks, no dev backlog.

This division of labor made speed possible: From kickoff to launch, the program went live in under 60 days.

3. It Didn’t Dilute the Brand

One of the biggest fears with resale is that it will feel disconnected or "off-brand," but Treet’s platform was fully customized to Pact’s look, feel, and ethos. Customers weren’t sent to a third-party experience—they stayed in a space that felt unmistakably Pact. By mixing returned items with authentic pre-loved pieces, the brand created a genuine resale experience rather than just an outlet store.

This mattered. Many resale buyers were longtime customers searching for old favorites—specific styles, colors, and fits that were no longer in production. Instead of leaving the brand ecosystem to find them on secondhand sites, they found them right on Pact Circle. This not only kept resale traffic in-house, it deepened their emotional connection with the brand.

4. It Created a Real Retention Loop

Resale attracted new buyers and engaged existing customers in a whole new way. By allowing customers to sell their old Pact products and get store credit, the program created a circular relationship. Sellers turned into buyers, buyers turned into advocates, and the brand stayed at the center of the cycle.

This loop wasn’t theoretical. Over 78% of sellers chose store credit instead of cash. That means they’re coming back, spending more, and staying loyal, without Pact having to spend extra to re-acquire them.

5. Returns Became a Scalable Revenue Stream

What used to be a costly operational headache is now a new source of high-margin and consistent revenue. There’s a nearly 80% sell-through rate on Brand Direct inventory, and most of that was B-grade product that would’ve otherwise been deeply discounted or discarded.

Instead of waiting months to write off inventory or sell it to liquidators at steep discounts, Pact monetizes it immediately at higher margins. The returns backlog went from financial drain to profitable flywheel, setting a new bar for how apparel brands can operate at scale, sustainably.

Final Thought: From Fire Drill to Flywheel

Pact engineered success under pressure.

Faced with a logistics crisis, they didn’t panic or patch. They zoomed out, partnered up, and rebuilt their returns process into something faster, leaner, and more profitable. That shift turned a warehouse full of stranded inventory into a high-performing revenue loop, and brought their sustainability mission even closer to the core of their business.

This isn’t about recycling or optics. It’s about better margins, smarter ops, and deeper brand connection.

Returns will always happen.
The question is: will they drain you, or drive you?

Pact chose the latter. And now, there’s no going back.