Sustainable Fashion, Shipped Faster: How ELK The Label Cut Processing Time by 70% and Lifted Customer Retention by 30% With Automated Exchanges

For eco-friendly fashion brand ELK The Label, finding ways to operate more sustainably and efficiently is the cornerstone of their business. For over 20 years, the family-run fashion label has been producing and selling ethically sourced women’s clothing and accessories, with flagship stores across Melbourne, a thriving ecommerce store and a booming international wholesale business.

What started out as a small independent design brand has grown steadily into a well-known name in Australian fashion, known for their focus on quality products, sustainability, and doing things the right way. In 2024, the business achieved B-Corp Certification, marking a major milestone in their commitment to conscious fashion.

With that same commitment to efficiency, it was only a matter of time before ELK turned its attention to shipping.

“We were spending too much time manually creating labels, comparing rates, and switching between multiple carrier systems. That led to double-handling, limited visibility, and real operational pressure—orders were delayed getting out the door across both our wholesale and ecommerce divisions, and picking errors started creeping up. With customer expectations around speed and accuracy only getting higher, we felt that pressure almost immediately,” Rowe said.

But with that challenge, came an opportunity for the business.

“We knew we needed a more scalable and sustainable approach, one that reduced reliance on manual handling, minimized errors, and brought consistency across the entire fulfillment operation. That’s where ShipStation became the answer,” Rowe explained.

Managing omnichannel fulfillment requires the right mix

ELK The Label operates across wholesale, retail, and ecommerce, which means balancing the very different needs of each customer base within a single fulfillment model.

“What our wholesale customers want will vary greatly from what our online customers need,” Rowe noted. “A wholesale order might include 30 to 40 products, whereas an online order might only consist of a few items. Then we have in-store customers and Click & Collect orders to manage, each with their own delivery expectations.”

With the goal to deliver a consistent customer experience across all channels, ELK turned to ShipStation to help centralize everything—orders, carriers, and labels—all into one system. This led to an immediate reduction in double-handling and a 70% increase in order processing speed.

“When the bottlenecks were slowing us down, it was taking upwards of 2 to 3 weeks to get orders out the door. As our processes started to improve, we got this down to 3.5 days, and today, it’s down to 1.2 days. That’s all thanks in part to ShipStation’s workflows, and the ease with which it has sped up our operations. It’s been a massive game-changer for us,” Rowe said.

Streamlining the Click & Collect experience

Two features have made a particular difference on the DC floor: Custom Labels and Scan to Verify.

For customers choosing Click & Collect, ELK fulfills all orders at the distribution center before shipping them to the relevant retail store for collection. Previously, staff printed orders and checked them off manually, a time-consuming process with plenty of room for error. With ShipStation, all Click & Collect orders are automatically grouped, labels are batch-printed in one go, and custom branding adds a more personalized in-store pickup experience.

The result: the team saves 30+ minutes every day, with Click & Collect processing time down 70%.

On the DC floor, Scan to Verify has transformed how ELK handles wholesale orders—where a single order might contain 35 to 40 different items. By scanning each item against the packing list before dispatch, the team has cut picking errors by 98%.

“This process has saved us so much time and makes our wholesale order process much smoother,” Rowe said.

Building customer loyalty one exchange at a time

ELK The Label has built a loyal customer base over the last two decades—customers who share their commitment to sustainability and quality. But with online return rates in fashion running higher than almost any other industry in Australia, ELK knew they needed a returns and exchanges experience that could keep up.

“Our returns process was previously manual and inefficient. When an order came back to the DC, a team member had to physically open each box, identify the item, and manually process the return in Shopify. We also didn’t offer exchanges—customers received a credit note and had to go back online to use it. There was always the risk of losing that sale entirely,” Rowe explained.

When ELK’s CFO started analyzing how much the dormant credit notes were costing the business, it was clear something had to change.

With ShipStation’s Returns & Exchanges functionality, ELK’s customers now manage their own returns and exchanges through a branded self-service portal—putting the power back in the consumer’s hands and taking the manual work off the team.

Since launching, ELK has increased customer retention by 30% through exchanges alone. With an average order value of $200 to $300, that translates to approximately $55,000 in retained revenue. This has also led to a meaningful drop in “where’s my refund?” inquiries, creating a smoother customer experience.

“It’s a brilliant feature and something we’ve wanted in the business for a very long time. Our customers are happy. The business is happy. It’s a win-win,” Rowe said.

Fulfillment woes a thing of the past

Today, fulfillment is one less thing the ELK team has to worry about—and for a fast-growing fashion brand, every minute saved goes back into delivering a better customer experience.

“If you’re struggling with fulfillment and finding it’s becoming a bottleneck, just bite the bullet and sign up for ShipStation,” Rowe said. “It’s not that expensive, and it will save your business so much time and money. The return on investment is well worth it.”

Ready to make fulfillment one less thing to worry about?

ELK The Label turned a bottleneck into a competitive advantage—faster processing, fewer errors, and a returns experience customers actually love. See how ShipStation can do the same for your business.

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