Asos 'quietly' removed sustainable fashion edit ahead of greenwashing investigation

Asos is said to have “quietly” removed its sustainable fashion collection from its website weeks before a UK watchdog launched an investigation into potential greenwashing by the brand.

The retailer’s ‘Responsible Edit’ was launched in 2019 as a “one-stop-shop” for sustainable clothing and coincided with a filter that allowed shoppers to search for “recycled” or “sustainable” materials.

However, according to a report by I News, Asos removed the curation and the filter just two weeks before the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced its probe into the brand, in which it said it is investigating possible “misleading eco claims”.

The publication said that both features had been taken down from the Asos website without any public announcement to explain their disappearance.

A spokesperson for the retailer told I in a statement: “Asos took the decision to proactively remove the functionality of the Responsible Edit, including filters, from the website in June as we cooperated with the CMA’s review of the fashion retail sector and we informed them of this move.

“We continue to work closely with the CMA as part of its investigation and remain committed to playing our part in making fashion more sustainable.”