Slow fashion label Asket gets rid of product images

The image above is not a mistake, not a website gone wrong. It is the t-shirt selection by slow fashion label Asket. In a bold move, the brand decided to let go of product images. At least for the next three days, in a temporary experiment.

“A t-shirt so uncompromisingly timeless you already know what it looks like” is Asket’s message where the image used to be.

“Transcending the need for visual representation”

“With a permanent collection that's going almost ten years, we believe that we've succeeded in creating garments that are uncompromisingly timeless. In fact, we believe they're so timeless, they're able to transcend the need for visual representation,” elaborates the brand in their newsletter.

A bold move behind a bold statement that speaks for the loyalty of Asket’s customer base and the brand’s innovative and uncompromising approach: If you know the brand, you will know what their collection looks like - it does not change.

If you don’t know the brand, you will be curious to know where this confidence comes from.

And if you really want to see an image and click through, you may get disappointed because the images have been removed from the product pages too.

If frustration sets in, the joke is on you because how hard is it to imagine a plain white t-shirt?

All the other information (“fitted mid-length sleeves”, “ribbed binding neckline“ and the like is still there, enough to make an informed purchasing decision.

And, perhaps most importantly, removing the image paves the way for what is really important: the environmental impact of each shirt, detailed under “full transparency” at the bottom of the page. In case of a white t-shirt, that would be a landed cost of 12 euros and 5,7 kilograms of CO2e impact.

Those still curious about the intention behind the initiative can follow a link at the top at the page that refers to the background and previous initiatives.

Asket has now ended the experiment - the product images are back, and the slow fashion brand has gained some new insights: while the absence of the images led to a decline in sales during this period, as expected, brand traffic increased by 32 percent. In total, 410 people bought 1013 Asket garments without having seen them before; 44 percent of whom were new customers.

The experiment was not limited to the website and newsletter, but was conducted through various channels such as billboards and posters in Stockholm and London, social media and the Asket flagship store in Stockholm.