The Asos bounce shows fast fashion isn’t dead yet

The online retailer has rebounded after a tough year. James Moore reckons it might be time to reheat the idea of a fast-fashion tax to fund recycling

Back in fashion: Sales surged at the online clothes retailer (Reuters)

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.