Asos has revealed that fast fashion needs to slow down

The online retailer's new charge for serial returners has been met with uproar. But perhaps it should be a wake-up call if your cheap-clothing habit is that severe, writes Helen Coffey

- Helen Coffey

Another weekend, another outpouring of outrage on social media. This time, the ire was reserved for online fashion brand Asos.

“Has anyone else had a shitty email off Asos? Maybe if you sorted your shitty sizing, cheapo material and the fact nothing ever gets delivered next day we wouldn’t have to return!”, read one tweet.

“Wow. That’s me no longer using Asos and I hope everyone else who’s been sent this email does the same. Maybe if they made clothes that actually fit properly to the size they’re supposed to be or look like they did on the website I wouldn’t send as much back,” read another.

“Asos is disgusting,” went a third.

The backlash came in response to an email that had been sent out to a select group of customers, announcing that the retailer would be changing its returns policy.

“We wanted to give you a heads-up about some updates we’re making to our Fair Use Policy that will affect your future orders with Asos,” reads the message, now shared widely online. “We know how much our customers love free returns, and we will continue to make free returns available to all UK customers.

“However, as part of a small group of customers with a frequently high returns rate, you’ll now only get free returns when you keep £40 or more from your order. If you keep less than £40 from your order, we’ll deduct £3.95 from your refund.

The vast majority of customers will still receive free returns on all orders.”

Some of the brand’s Premier customers – those who pay a yearly subscription fee to get free delivery options – received a similar email outlining that they would have to keep a minimum of £15 worth of items to qualify for free returns.