The Asos bounce shows fast fashion isn’t dead yet

The end of fast fashion? That’s what some commentators went so far as to call it after Asos, one of the retailers most closely associated with the phenomenon, issued pair of nasty profit warnings and received a severe boot up the behind from the stock market last year.

The online business is focused on millennials and Gen Z-ers, who tend to be quite keen on ethical consumerism and looking after an environment they’re none too keen on seeing mucked up, given the number of years they’re going to have to live in it.

But while lots of them have been turning their backs on the buy it, wear it, bin it, buy it again culture that has fuelled an environmentally destructive industry, the model isn’t as broken as some seemed to hope.

Taking its turn on the post-Christmas trading-statement catwalk, Asos delivered a model result as far as investors were concerned.

It recorded a 20 per cent rise in sales for the four months ending 31 December, a fancy number that was fancier than most forecasts.

Last year’s woes were driven less by a millennial consumer rebellion against fast fashion than they were by business misjudgements – pricing during the 2018 Black Friday shopping-fest in particular.

During last year’s outing, Asos dialled up deals to tempt its customers and was rewarded. As a result, it was able to tell its shareholders that they could indulge in a celebratory spin of Right Said Fred’s “I’m too Sexy” after reading the results.

OK, OK, it didn’t go that far. CEO Nick Beighton didn’t actually do his little turn on the catwalk or recommend it to others. Instead he waffled on about “strong customer acquisition activity” supported by “robust operational performance” which has “delivered good momentum”, in his quote at the bottom of the trading statement.

But that’s the City equivalent of his saying “I’m too Sexy for Milan, Too Sexy for Milan, New York and Japan”. Perhaps he had his driver put it on Spotify for him on the way home. Who knows, or dares to dream.

The shares certainly took their turn on the runway. They were much in vogue with investors hoping fast fashion is still capable of yielding fast profits.

The British Retail Consortium might have called 2019 the worst on record for retailers, but Asos wasn’t the only representative of the rag trade with good reason to smile.

In the interests of avoiding calls from self-righteous PR people dippy enough about their client to be offended by my criticising its environmental record, Asos knows its market and knows that lots of negative coverage is bad for its brand and business, so there’s a long list of stuff it’s doing to be found at the corporate responsibility section of the website.

Did you know that 34 per cent of its fibres come from sustainable sources? Cashmere, mohair, feathers, down, silk, bone, horn, teeth and shell are being banned, and the carbon intensity per customer is down.

“Fashion with integrity: epitomises our approach to business”.

That’s what it says. I’m not sure about the punctuation, but never mind. The messaging is designed to show that the company takes this stuff jolly seriously.

All the same, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee went so far as to call for a fast-fashion tax to fund recycling of the £140m worth of clothes thrown away in Britain each year, and with Asos back on the growth track, perhaps it’s time to reheat that idea.