Exclusive: Asos shuffles top team as two senior directors step down

Retail Week has learned that Barron will leave the business later this month and Pesticcio will step down from at the end of this year.

Retail Week can also reveal that Alejandra Mur, the founder and former chief executive of Mango’s sustainable fashion brand Alter Made, joined Asos at the end of September as director of Topshop, Topman and venture brands. She was previously head of buying at Mango until August 2021.

Barron joined Asos in March 2010 as head of buying across menswear and outlet products. He was buying director before being promoted to partner brands director in April 2022.

Pesticcio will leave Asos after 17 years. Before his run at Asos, Pesticcio was a buyer at the Arcadia Group as well as head of buying across menswear at Debenhams.

Asos said it has not yet appointed successors for Barron or Pesticcio but it is running internal processes. Sportswear and outdoors director Tim Phipps will be responsible for the global brands in the interim.

As part of its leadership shake-up, Asos also recently promoted former womenswear director Elena Martínez Ortiz to senior product director.

An Asos spokesperson said: “This is part of a wider change to our product teams which we’re incredibly excited about.

“Refreshing our leadership team and culture was a core part of the strategy José [Antonio Ramos Calamonte, chief executive] set out last year and we’ve made these changes to align our organisational structure to our strategic priorities and to support our obsession with speed and execution of our Driving Change agenda.

“We’re grateful for their contribution to the business and wish them the best in their future ventures.”

This follows a turbulent period for Asos, which was the subject of takeover speculation earlier in the year, after posting an adjusted loss before tax of £87.4m for the six months to February 2023.

Despite Ramos Calamonte’s efforts to turn Asos’ fortunes around via the Driving Change agenda set out in October 2022, the online fashion giant confirmed in its latest trading update that it expects EBIT for the three months to September 3, 2023, to be “around the bottom of the guided £40m to £60m range”.

Asos also posted a 15% decline in sales year on year during its fourth quarter of the year, which it said was “in line with guidance”.