The Green Guide How sustainable is Asos - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Fashion The Green Guide How sustainable is Asos By Jessica Carroll - May 22, 2022 How sustainable is your wardrobe? Introducing a column by Jessica Carroll that challenges fashion’s eco credentials. This week, she asks the question: how sustainable is Asos? Laura point with embellished trim in black polka dot, £22, Asos Materials Not a good start. All Asos says about these shoes is that they are a mix of ‘textile’ and ‘other materials’. Other? When contacted, Asos confirmed they are textile, thermoplastic rubber and PU leather, but without making this detailed breakdown easily available, how are shoppers meant to recycle them responsibly? Suppliers These were made in China – which means more transport emissions. On the slightly brighter side, Asos is transparent about its suppliers and publishes its factory list on the Open Apparel Registry. By 2030, it plans to have supply chains mapped back to raw-material level for all its own-brand products. Packaging This is more promising. The shoes come in a 100 per cent recycled box, within an 80 per cent recycled plastic mailing bag. Asos also encourages customers to send back used bags with any returns – last year, 450 tonnes of old packaging was turned into mailbags. Impressive. The extra mile In 2019, Asos signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, an initiative that encourages a circular economy (where waste is continuously reused to make new products). By formally committing to reducing non-reusable plastic, Asos has made itself accountable. We’d like to see more fast-fashion retailers following suit. Carbon footprint Let’s be frank, this is fast fashion, so customers don’t want to wait long for orders. While Asos has been reducing its carbon footprint, air freight, it says, ‘remains an important option for shorter lead times’. It doesn’t state how these shoes got to the UK, but the short lead time plus the long distance suggests they were probably flown here. Verdict Yes, Asos has made an effort to encourage recycling and be transparent about suppliers, but it also has more than 85,000 products for sale at any given time – which is never going to encourage people to shop more sustainably. And with its aims to increase own-brand sales by a whopping £1 billion in the medium term, it’s clear that slowing down isn’t on the company’s agenda. Our rating: 2 stars out of 5. Only tentative attempts at real change. Fashion director: Shelly Vella RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Rochelle Humes has launched a gorgeous new edit with Next Shop the YOU Magazine Instagram YOU picks the best new-in buys from M& S Popular in Fashion Laura Jackson has teamed up with Next for the chicest knitwear January 22, 2020 Holly Willoughby’ s birthday dress is another Zara bargain February 10, 2020 The Instagram-famous & Other Stories wool blazer is back in stock August 31, 2022 Lorraine just wore Emma Willis’ Next collection from head to toe March 17, 2020 The prettiest spring dresses under £100 March 1, 2022 Everyone is buying Holly’ s gorgeous gingham Oasis dress May 14, 2020 13 bargain dresses to buy in ASOS’ s extra 20 per cent June 10, 2020 This £20 H& M dress is set to be the social media June 26, 2020 Stacey Solomon x Primark is back for a third collection with July 20, 2020 Searches for this perfect heatwave summer top style are up 5000% August 10, 2020 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved