The first product that ASOS tried to sell was a jacket from a film. Brad Pitt's red leather jacket in Fight Club had been a talking point in 1999, and an online shop that would sell you the look was an idea that fit the internet at the time.
The company did not begin as ASOS. On 3 June 2000 it was registered in London as Winsupply Public Limited Company. Within two weeks it became AsSeenOnScreen Holdings, and the name was the pitch: buy what you see on film and TV. Four people are named as its founders: Nick Robertson, Andrew Regan, Quentin Griffiths and Deborah Thorpe. Robertson, who went to Canford School in Dorset, became chief executive and held the job until 2015.
It also set a pattern: ASOS kept adding third-party labels on one site while building its own.
The first model was close to a fan business. The site sold imitations of the clothes celebrities and characters wore, and shoppers could browse by film or show. It reached the Alternative Investment Market in 2001, which put the young firm in front of public investors. In 2003 shareholders approved a shorter name, ASOS, and the film-and-TV gimmick faded as the catalogue grew.
The turn came in 2004, when ASOS reported its first profit and launched its own women's label. Selling its own designs was the step from imitation to brand. It also set a pattern: ASOS kept adding third-party labels on one site while building its own.
It was not smooth. In 2005 the Buncefield fuel depot explosion shut the business for six weeks. In 2010 it dropped kidswear when branded sales declined. In 2013 a batch of belts was recalled after contamination with radioactive cobalt-60. A warehouse fire in 2014 stopped order-taking for almost three days. A 2016 report by BuzzFeed News alleged poor warehouse conditions, which the company disputed. The business also sponsored the McLaren Formula One team in 2014 and launched a visual search tool, Style Match, in 2017.
Robertson's wealth became public in 2016 when a High Court judge ordered him to pay his ex-wife £70 million, about a third of a fortune put at £220 million.
The hard years came later. The share value fell 70% during 2023, and a £3.95 return fee angered customers in 2024. For FY2025 ASOS reported revenue of £2,464.8 million, an operating loss of £32.2 million and a net loss of £298.4 million. Frasers Group holds 29.26% and Bestseller 26%.
The founding lesson sits in the first name. Winsupply, then AsSeenOnScreen, then ASOS: the company changed its idea twice before it found one that scaled. A first idea is a place to start, not a place to stay.