Breaking News English

An upmarket [cog / chain] of U.S. department stores has taken action to stop people [buying / purchases] expensive clothes, wearing them once and then returning [it / them] for a refund. About 65 per cent of U.S. retailers reported they have been [victims / victimised] of this practice, known as “wardrobing”. This form of "return fraud" costs the [trailer / retail] industry an estimated $8.8 billion a year. The store, Bloomingdale's, has started [fixating / attaching] large, black, hard-to-hide [tags / togs] to the bottom of dresses that cost over $150. The [garnish / garment] cannot be returned if the tag is missing. This means anyone [thought / thinking] they can have a "free dress rental" might have to think again. The tag means they would be advertising the [fact / facet] at their party that they are wardrobing.

Retail analyst Hitha Prabhakar explained [how / why] serious wardrobing was, saying: "What people don't realize is that it's an [illegality / illegal] process." Wardrobing has become [such / so] a problem that Bloomingdale's has decided to risk [annoyance / annoying] and potentially losing customers in an effort to [deter / defer] it. They have, in [effect / effort] , let go a little of the sales mantra that "the customer is always right". Some Bloomingdale's customers [believe / belief] the tags make them feel dishonest, while others think it's a [length / long] overdue solution to unscrupulous shoppers. The National Retail Federation said: "It's a [delicate / desiccant] balance of loss prevention and good customer service, and the relationship has to be handled with appropriate [finest / finesse] ."