FAQS

ASOS has a long history of supporting new design talent and emerging brands, but there is a clear opportunity to implement a more formal initiative and reach a wider pool of talent. As such, we will be creating this brand incubator initiative, which is called ASOS Fashion Discovery.

At the end of the competition there will be two winners and each of them will receive from ASOS:

· £50,000 cash to be used to help each winner grow its brand;

· An edit of their brand’s collections to be sold on ASOS.com (and local language sites at ASOS’ discretion) for two consecutive seasons;

· 50 hours of mentoring split across up to five business functions: Retail, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Sourcing

· Editorial coverage on ASOS channels; and

· ASOS to create a digital fashion look book.

· The public will also have the opportunity to select via an online vote their “People’s Pick” from the shortlisted businesses. The Winner of the People’s Pick will receive an edit of their brand’s collection to be sold on ASOS.com (and local language sites at ASOS’ discretion) for one season. If the People’s Pick winner is also a winner of the main competition, the People’s Pick winner will receive £10,000 cash instead to be used to help grow their brand.

Click on your favourite brand and then hit ‘Vote’ to register your, erm, vote. You will need to be signed in to your ASOS account to do that.

Don’t have an ASOS account? Creating one couldn’t be easier. Click here to sign up and you’ll have the options of creating an account using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or your email address.

If you’re signing up through social media, then you’ll be asked to log into your social account. Once you’ve logged in and followed the on-screen instructions, you’ll have to confirm a few details depending on which social platform you’re using. Likewise, if you’re signing up with an email address, you’ll have to confirm a few details.

Once you’ve entered all of your information, click ‘Complete Account’ and you’re ready to vote.

This competition is only open to UK-based businesses (sole traders, partnerships and companies), that –

· Have been trading for less than five years as at 4 September 2017; and

· Operate a fashion brand (e.g. menswear, womenswear, unisexwear, accessories, footwear and/or jewellery, beauty brand or homeware brand (“Brand”). All other product extensions will not be taken into account for the purposes of this competition; and

· Sell new (i.e. not vintage or second-hand) and original fashion products.

At all three stages of the competition, our judges and panellists will be looking for businesses and brands that:

· Are appropriate for the ASOS platforms – e.g. in terms of their values, relevance to 20-somethings and price point;

· Have a strong, high-quality online and social presence;

· Display originality, commerciality, personality and entrepreneurial flair – not only in their competition application, but also in their fashion collection, marketing content, and day-to-day;

· Have credible distribution channels and ability to supply for global sale;

· Show commercial strength, viability and an appreciation of risk management;

· Have a good understanding of how marketing and PR can build their business; and

· Can demonstrate that they will use the prize to grow their brand.

Our panel may also take into account customer feedback on the final shortlisted 10 businesses, although this will not itself determine our winners.

At Stage 1 our judges will consist of senior representatives of the ASOS Retail and Fashion teams.

At Stage 2, ASOS Retail and Fashion judges will be joined by representatives from other ASOS business functions including Finance, Legal, Sourcing and Marketing.

At Stage 3, the panel will consist of:

· Jo Hunt (Womenswear, Head of Buying);

· John Mooney – Creative director, menswear and production at ASOS;

· Nick Beighton – CEO at ASOS;

· Hilary Riva OBE – Non-executive director of ASOS Plc and former CEO of the British Fashion Council;

· Gemma Shiel, Founder of Lazy Oaf;

· Susie Lau, Founder of Susie Bubble;

· Katie Baron, Journalist & Creative Consultant , Stylus; and

· Elgar Johnson, Fashion Director at GQ Style 

At each stage, the judges/panel will also include at least one individual who is independent from ASOS, whose name will be available on request by sending an email to asosfashiondiscovery@asos.com with “ASOS Fashion Discovery Competition Independent Judge” in the subject line (the email address will close two months after the Winners' Ceremony).

This competition has 3 stages. Full dates for each stage are set out in the competition Ts&Cs, but please note the following in particular:

·Stage 1 closes on Monday 30 October 2017 (08:00 GMT). We will confirm to each entrant by 27 November 2017 whether they have made the Longlist.

·Stage 2 (only open to Longlisted businesses) will open on 27 November 2017 and close on the extended deadline of 21 December 2017 (08:00 GMT). We will confirm to each Longlisted business by 20 January 2017 whether they have made the shortlist.

·Stage 3 (only open to Shortlisted businesses) will involve (a) number of meetings and photo/video shoots both in the Shortlisted businesses’ offices and at ASOS HQ (or at some other central London location) between 22 January 2018 and 16 February 2018 and (b) a panel session with our judges in a central London location on a date (TBC) between 30 April 2018 and 4 May 2018. Key Individuals of Shortlisted businesses must be available for these dates (ASOS reserves the right to disqualify entrants for non-attendance).

·We will contact all Shortlisted businesses by 4 May 2018 to confirm whether or not they are a winner. Our winners will be announced publicly at a Winners' Ceremony on date (TBC) between 7 May 2018 and 11 May 2018 in central London. Key Individuals from the winners must be available to attend the ceremony.

·Public voting for the People’s Pick will open on 17 April 2018 (10:00 GMT) and close on 1 May 2018 (10:00 GMT). The winner of the People’s Pick will be notified on 10 May 2018.