Simon Platts set up Simon Platts Consulting in March 2023, an independent consultancy focused on supporting retailers, educators, and the fashion industry at large to deliver better ways of buying and sourcing to improve quality, profitability, agility, and proposition, reduce negative impacts on people and planet, and deliver on environmental, social, and legal commitments.
Simon has also recently taken the role of CEO Co-Founder of Recomme, a company focused on supplying tools and support to retailers and brands that enable the recovery of old items of clothing and footwear. And then send off for upcycle, recycle and turn them into new products.
Up until March 2023 Simon was with ASOS.com for 10 years. In his role as Responsible Sourcing and Commercial ESG Director Simon oversaw the company’s own-brand sourcing, packaging, ethical trade, product sustainability programme and 3rd-party branded engagement functions. He also led the team which developed, and delivered, Asos’ ‘Fashion with Integrity’ initiative.
Simon started out in fashion as a teenager, and as of 2023 has been working in the industry for nearly four decades. His journey has taken him from shop-floor sales staff at Next Retail in the mid-1980s, moving through the ranks at Next, into visual merchandising, buying , buying management, and finally sourcing, where he was responsible for setting up the UK arm of Next’s global sourcing operation.
Prior to joining Asos, Simon was Head of Branded and Own Brand Buying for the Outdoor specialist retailers Blacks and Millets. Before that, he spent 10 years as Director/Partner at Lazzati UK , a multi-regional supplier of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and footwear to UK high street retailers and brands, where he led the product development and sourcing teams.
Outside of work, Sheffield-born Simon lives with his family in Leicestershire, and pursues his passions for outdoor activities, the environment, nature, and conservation.