The wide-ranging extent of fast fashion’s damaging ecosystem becomes clearer with each new headline it makes.
This time, it’s British retailer Asos coming under fire for the poor treatment of employees at its distribution center in South Yorkshire, England, following an investigative piece published Thursday by BuzzFeed News. And now Asos is frantically conducting damage control online, where it faces a firestorm of criticism.
In the article, BuzzFeed News shared stories from workers who said they were discouraged from taking bathroom and water breaks, held to machine-like efficiency standards and fired for taking sick time. BuzzFeed News reporters Sara Spary and Laura Silver spent three months investigating the work conditions at the warehouse, which is owned and operated by global distribution company XPO, and obtained internal documents, conversation recordings and testimonies from anonymous workers at the warehouse and at XPO.
BuzzFeed spoke to XPO and Asos for the story; each denied allegations that workers were being treated unfairly. Today, Asos’s customer care team on Twitter is taking the time to respond to users tweeting at the company about their disappointment and horror after reading the story.
On social media, customers are speaking out about the retailer, and the cost of fast fashion’s need to cut corners. The Twitter account @Asos_HeretoHelp has been sending the same two-tweet message in response to the social media backlash.
@ryeisenberg The recent allegations about our warehouse are misleading. We take the welfare and happiness of our employees… 1/2
— ASOS Here to Help (@ASOS_HeretoHelp) September 29, 2016
@ryeisenberg and those who work for our third parties, seriously and will do everything we can to investigate claims that suggest otherwise
— ASOS Here to Help (@ASOS_HeretoHelp) September 29, 2016
While Asos has refuted the allegations, and continues to respond, customers are still speaking out on Twitter against the company.
Wow, @ASOS. Just wow. Never buying from you ever again. Absolutely disgusting.https://t.co/vR5UZur3pc #asos #buzzfeed
— Hannah Davis (@coquetin91) September 29, 2016
I will be sad to stop shopping at @asos but if this is how you treat your workers :/ not sure this cardigan I’m wearing is worth it tbh. https://t.co/SQOkaPtv5s
— Joanna (@joannastar) September 29, 2016
Shame on @ASOS, If you make a employee do a security check daily but don’t pay them for that time, that is wrong https://t.co/8eh87GHifr
— Jimi Love (@Jimi_Lover) September 29, 2016
As a fast fashion company, Asos sells at a competitive price point — with most jeans around $30, boots at $50, and sweaters at $20 — and offers two-day shipping. New items are added to the site regularly. In 2008, as noted in BuzzFeed’s investigation, Asos founder Nick Robinson said that the company’s goal was to be the “Amazon of fashion.”
Until now Asos has largely skirted the backlash received by other fast fashion companies like Forever 21, H&M, Zara and Primark, whose clothes are manufactured in factories with unsafe working conditions. But the investigation shows that fast fashion’s crushing pace affects not only those who manufacture the clothing, but those who pack and ship orders as well. (If the company set out to be Amazon, it’s achieving it in at least one way: its warehouses are also coming under fire for poor worker conditions.)
Asos also prides itself on a strong content strategy, which is mentioned in the article. It frequently boosts slumping sales by running a social media promotion or email marketing campaign. But an aggressively “reactive” retail mindset has dire consequences for the warehouse workers, who are called in to work overtime as a result of suddenly surging demand. The company’s practice of “flex” hours subjects full-time employees to the whim of that demand.
In addition to its in-house brand, Asos carries name brands like Adidas, Calvin Klein and Free People. Affiliated brands have yet to respond to the story.
In response to the story, Asos had this to say:
“There have been a number of allegations about the working conditions at our warehouse in Barnsley that are inaccurate, misleading or based on out of date information.”
