ASOS Co-Founder Dies After Fall in Thailand

ASOS has lost one of its original design creators. Quentin Griffiths, who helped launch the British fashion retailer in 2000, died in Thailand after falling from a 17th-floor balcony in the coastal city of Pattaya on Feb. 9, Thai police say, per Reuters. Officers said they found the 58-year-old British national's body on the ground below his apartment and identified him as Griffiths. Police say early findings point to suicide, with no evidence so far of another person in Griffiths' apartment; CCTV footage reportedly showed no one entering before his fall. An autopsy is underway.

A Thai friend told police that Griffiths had been anxious about legal cases involving his ex-wife, a Thai national, and related documents were recovered in his home, police say. The Independent notes that the wife's complaint stems from her accusation that Griffiths stole nearly $675,000 from a firm they ran together. When queried about Griffiths, Britain's Foreign Office simply said that it's assisting the family of a UK citizen who died in Thailand.

Griffiths served as ASOS' marketing director before leaving in 2004, but he remained a major shareholder for years. He helped steer the then-"As Seen on Screen" company, as it was originally called, from dot-com survivor to a force in online retail. The Guardian notes that ASOS attire has been sported by such luminaries as Rihanna and Michelle Obama.