After years of operating in the U.S. primarily through online and wholesale channels, including Nordstrom, Topshop and Topman returned to a brand-controlled physical retail setting in December through a limited-time pop-up staged by parent company Asos. The 17-day Winter Wonderland activation, held in New York’s SoHo neighborhood, marked the third U.S. activation for Asos in the last six months and a long-awaited return to the states for Topshop and Topman. Asos executives say the experiment helped inform how the company approaches brand positioning, premium assortments and customer engagement in the U.S.
London-based Asos acquired Topshop and Topman in 2021 out of the collapse of the Arcadia Group, which had previously operated dozens of standalone stores globally, including roughly 11 locations in the U.S. Since then, Asos has run the brands primarily as digital and wholesale businesses. In the U.S., Topshop and Topman have remained available through Nordstrom, which has sold the brands online and in select stores since 2012. In the U.K., Asos and Topshop/Topman do not have their own stores. Before 2020, Topshop/Topman had a significant brick-and-mortar presence, including the flagship Oxford Circus store in London.
The SoHo pop-up featured a curated selection from Topshop and Topman, alongside the fashion-forward Asos Design collection and Asos’s newer in-house premium lines, including Arrange and Asos Collective, both introduced in 2025. According to Ben Blake, evp of customer and commercial at Asos, the goal was to give U.S. customers a physical entry point into the full breadth of the Asos offer.
“There’s a strong emotional connection to Topshop and Topman in the U.S.,” Blake said in an interview. “This was an opportunity to bring that back into a physical space, while also introducing the brands to customers who know Asos primarily as a digital destination.”
The activation comes as Asos continues a multi-year turnaround effort. In its full-year earnings, reported on November 21, the company said revenue for the 52 weeks ending on August 31, 2025 declined 14% year over year to approximately $3.1 billion, while gross merchandise value fell 12%. At the same time, profitability improved sharply. Adjusted EBITDA rose 60% to about $168 million, and gross margin increased by 370 basis points to 47.1%, its strongest margin in several years.
Chief executive José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said the company has emerged from a period of structural reset and is now positioned to invest more selectively. “We first had to rebuild the economics and stabilize the business so we could create the capacity to invest in what matters most to customers,” he said in a statement. “With the most difficult work behind us, I’m more confident than ever that we have the right strategy and capabilities to achieve our ambition to become the most exciting destination for fashion lovers.”
As part of that reset, Asos has reduced its warehouse footprint by more than half, cut stock levels by roughly 60% since fiscal 2022 and renegotiated distribution contracts. The company said profit per order has increased 30% and net debt has been reduced by more than $140 million, plus it ended the year with a free cash inflow of approximately $18 million.
Against that backdrop, Asos has leaned into targeted, lower-risk initiatives to re-engage customers and test growth opportunities. Temporary retail activations have become one such tool. While the company remains digital-first, Blake said pop-ups offer insights that complement online data.
“Pop-ups allow us to spend time with customers and understand how they engage with the product in real life,” he said. “That observation helps inform decisions across buying, design and customer experience.”
Those insights have been particularly relevant in the U.S. market. Blake said recent activations have shown that American customers often shop with a specific occasion in mind, which is now influencing how assortments are curated and presented. That thinking shaped the Winter Wonderland pop-up, where occasion-led edits, such as partywear and capsule wardrobes, were featured prominently.
“When premium is connected to a clear use case, it tends to resonate more strongly,” Blake said. “Customers are often shopping for a particular moment, not just browsing.”
In the past, Asos’s physical activations have boosted digital performance. Following a June pop-up in New York, sales on Asos.com from locals increased by four percentage points, compared to the prior 12 weeks. Plus, the activation drove 4 million social views and 52,000 engagements.
While Asos declined to disclose sales figures from the Winter Wonderland pop-up, Blake said early signals around engagement and conversion were encouraging, particularly among U.S. customers encountering Topshop and Topman in person for the first time in years through Asos, rather than department stores like Nordstrom.
“The response showed us there is still appetite for these brands in the U.S.,” he said. “That’s useful insight as we think about how and where we show up next.”
Looking ahead, Asos said it expects gross merchandise value to improve through fiscal 2026 and forecast adjusted EBITDA in the range of $190 million to $230 million, alongside further margin expansion. The company plans additional experiential activations in U.S. markets, including Miami and Los Angeles. Topshop and Topman are expected to be featured in select pop-ups as Asos continues to test how physical experiences fit into its broader growth strategy.
