Fast fashion no more? Asos offers ‘ethical’ clothes

ASOS is to allow customers to choose only clothes identified as recycled or sustainably sourced.

The online retail giant has been criticised in the past as a fast fashion brand – producing vast quantities of cheap clothes that are worn only a handful of times.

However, it has become one of the first clothing companies to allow customers to pick products that are supposedly made responsibly. Visitors to the website can select such clothes using a ‘responsible’ filter button at the top of the page.

There are two categories under this heading. Clothes found in the recycled section, it is claimed, will be made out of reused plastics, textiles and waste.

A second filter called ‘sustainable’ will find items made with fabrics which use less water to produce. Research revealed this week that Britons will spend more than £2.7billion on outfits this summer that will be worn only once.

Asos itself has previously been criticised for featuring hundreds of dresses and tops for less than £10 on its website.

Despite its latest initiative, some critics have called on the brand to go further.

Besma Whayeb, an ethical fashion blogger and green action ambassador for the Government, believes it should give more information about where the clothes are sourced from.

She said Asos is using cotton that is ‘generally made in a more ethical way’ but added: ‘I don’t know anything about their labour practices for garment workers, or items made anything other than cotton.’

Currently around 1 per cent of the 54,000 clothing items on the website are classed as recycled, and 17 per cent as sustainable.