Twitter user spots fashion retailer's embarrassing mistake

Online fashion retailer ASOS has been caught in an embarrassing fail. Photo / Twitter, @xronnieanna

Online fashion behemoth ASOS has gone viral after an eagle-eyed shopper spotted a big problem on its website and shared the blunder on social media.

Twitter user @xronnieanna noticed that a model showing off one of the site's dresses was pictured with several large clips appearing to cinch the waist, creating the illusion of a perfect fit.

In each photo, the brunette model is seen posing in the blue midi dress — with the clips clearly visible.

The London woman shared several of the pictures on Twitter with the caption: "Uhmm @Asos … think you forgot to edit those clips out."

uhmm @ASOS ..think you forgot to edit those clips out pic.twitter.com/KRrtqq07Po

— Ronnie (@xronnieanna) April 23, 2019

ASOS responded to the woman's tweet, posting: "Hi Ronnie, thank you for raising this with us. We're sorry to hear the clips are showing in the picture. We'll now raise this with our specialist team. If you have any questions please send us a message we'd be happy to help."

However, the original post soon received thousands of likes, retweets and comments, with many customers furiously claiming the company was deliberately misleading them when it came to the dress's true size and fit.

" … can you stop adding clips because it's misleading when the product arrives and is completely different in real life? Show us how it really fits," Twitter user Zahida Allen wrote, while Laura Cunningham added: "I always wondered why nothing ever fits even remotely close to the photos on the websites … guess now we know why."

The mistake comes just weeks after ASOS announced a shake-up of its returns policy, with an email sent to customers revealing it would now "investigate and take action" if an "unusual pattern" regarding returns was noticed.

But @ASOS you are BLOCKING customers who return goods. We return them as they don't fit correctly, wonder why eh!!????

— Kimberley Kilmister (@myster02) April 25, 2019

"We know easy returns are one of the (many) reasons you shop with us, so we've increased the time you can return stuff from 28 days to 45 days," the statement began.

"If you return anything within 28 days, we'll refund you as normal … and after that (up to 45 days), you'll now get an ASOS gift voucher for the amount you spent.

"We also need to make sure our returns remain sustainable for us and for the environment, so if we notice an unusual pattern, we might investigate and take action. It's unlikely to affect you, but we wanted to give you a heads up."

However, many Twitter users claimed it was unfair to penalise customers for returning items when the latest mistake appeared to prove the company was creating confusion about sizing.

Kymbers said: "But @ASOS you are BLOCKING customers who return goods. We return them as they don't fit correctly, wonder why eh!!????"

Soon after the post went viral, ASOS removed the pictures of the clips from the website.

Some Twitter users argued in the company's favour, claiming the use of clips in fashion shoots was standard practice.