ACS Clothing partnered with Movopack to replace single-use cardboard boxes with durable reusable packaging across its rental operations. Designed to travel from ACS to customers and back again, the boxes remain in circulation alongside the garments they protect, supporting the company's closed-loop rental model. Over three years, the reusable packaging system delivers more than €100,000 in savings by reducing reliance on the ongoing purchase, assembly and disposal of single-use cardboard boxes. It also delivers significant environmental benefits, cutting packaging waste by 98% and reducing the CO₂ emissions by 85%.

About ACS Clothing

ACS Clothing is the UK’s leading circular fashion and apparel logistics providers, helping brands extend the life of garments through rental, resale, repair, refurbishment and reuse. Working behind the scenes for leading fashion brands including Nudie Jeans, The North Face and Belstaff, ACS provides the operational infrastructure that enables circular fashion models to scale commercially.

The Challenge

Rental garments are designed to be returned, refurbished and rented again. The cardboard boxes traditionally used to transport them, however, are typically discarded after a single journey.

This created a fundamental mismatch within ACS’s circular business model. While garments remained in circulation through multiple rental cycles, the packaging supporting every shipment continued to generate unnecessary waste, procurement costs and operational inefficiencies.

ACS needed a packaging solution capable of performing within a demanding reverse logistics operation. It had to protect garments during outbound and return journeys, integrate seamlessly into warehouse operations, and remain intuitive for customers to return.

Movopack’s Solution

Movopack introduced a highly durable reusable box designed specifically for repeated logistics cycles. Rental garments are packed at the ACS distribution centre and shipped directly to customers. At the end of the rental period, customers simply place the garments back into the same packaging and return them to ACS.

Once received, each box is inspected, sanitised and prepared for its next shipment, allowing the same packaging to remain in continuous circulation within ACS's reverse logistics network. Because the packaging is provided through a flexible leasing model, ACS can scale its packaging fleet according to customer demand without significant upfront capital investment.

The Results

Compared with traditional single-use cardboard boxes, the reusable packaging system delivers significant financial, operational and environmental benefits:

• More than €100,000 in savings over three years

• 98% reduction in packaging waste

• 94% lower water use across the lifecycle

• 85% lower carbon footprint

• 78% lower energy use

By enabling packaging to circulate alongside the garments it protects, ACS reduces waste, lowers  packaging costs and builds a more efficient circular logistics system.