Quentin Griffiths, a co-founder of British online fashion retailer ASOS, died on February 9 after falling from the 17th floor of his condominium in Pattaya, the Thai coastal resort city where he had lived for nearly two decades. He was 58. Thai police confirmed the death publicly on Friday, eleven days after emergency services found his body on the ground directly below his balcony, and said the cause of death remained under investigation pending the outcome of a full post-mortem examination that authorities warned could take several months to conclude.
Police told the BBC that Griffiths had been alone in his apartment at the time of the incident, that the room was locked from the inside, and that there was no evidence of a break-in.
An initial autopsy produced no findings indicative of foul play, but investigators have not formally excluded that possibility. CCTV footage from the building showed no sign of anyone entering or leaving his apartment in the relevant period. Forensic testing was continuing and a full post-mortem had been ordered before any official cause of death would be declared, police said.
A source close to Griffiths’ family told The Sun newspaper, which first reported the death in Britain on Thursday: “It’s a real mystery. The phrase ‘suspicious circumstances’ has been used but we just don’t know yet.” The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed it was supporting his family and was in contact with the Thai authorities, but offered no further detail.
Griffiths’ death became public more than a week after it occurred, in part because Pattaya, a city of approximately 120,000 people on the Gulf of Thailand coast roughly 150 kilometres southeast of Bangkok, is home to a large and established community of foreign residents and retirees, and such incidents do not always attract immediate media coverage. His case drew attention in Britain only after The Sun’s report, whereupon it was reported across major British outlets within hours.
The legal context surrounding his final months was complex and had been a documented source of personal pressure.
His Thai ex-wife had accused him of forging documents to sell land and shares in a company they operated together, and of misappropriating approximately £500,000 from that business without her knowledge. He was arrested and questioned by Thai police in connection with those allegations the previous year, denied any wrongdoing, and was released after initial interviews.
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The investigation remained active and unresolved at the time of his death. Documents related to the case were found inside his apartment. He had also filed a separate civil lawsuit against accounting firm BDO, alleging he had been given incorrect tax advice on the disposal of shares, resulting in a tax liability he put at more than £4 million on share sales worth in excess of £10 million from ASOS and from Achica, a separate online retail venture he helped establish.
Griffiths co-founded ASOS in 2000 alongside Nick Robertson and Andrew Regan. Robertson, the great-grandson of Austin Reed, the British tailor who founded the clothing chain of that name, had previously worked as an advertising executive and provided the entrepreneurial driving force behind the company in its early years. Griffiths served as its marketing director, responsible for building the brand’s identity and early public recognition during the period when internet retail was still an almost entirely untested commercial proposition in Britain.
The company launched under the name As Seen On Screen, ASOS being the abbreviated form, with a model based on making high-street-styled clothing available online at accessible price points, at a time when shopping via a website was still novel and widely distrusted by consumers. It was floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market in 2001, the year after its founding, and proved to be one of a small handful of online retail ventures that survived and ultimately thrived after the collapse of the original internet bubble decimated most of the sector.
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Griffiths left the business in 2005 but retained a significant shareholding that formed the basis of his later wealth. He realised approximately £15 million from the sale of ASOS shares in 2010, followed by further proceeds in 2013 from additional stock disposals. The company he helped build grew into one of the largest online fashion platforms in the world, with annual revenues exceeding £3 billion at its peak and own-label clothing worn by figures including Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Michelle Obama.
In more recent years, however, ASOS has struggled to sustain the commercial trajectory that made it a celebrated success story of British digital retail.
The company has faced sustained pressure from rising operational costs, the weakening of consumer spending in its core markets, and increasingly aggressive competition from lower-cost Chinese e-commerce platforms including Shein and Temu, whose pricing structures have fundamentally altered competitive dynamics across the fast-fashion sector. Shares in ASOS had fallen approximately 96 per cent from their peak value by the time of Griffiths’ death, eroding much of the paper wealth that had accumulated for long-standing shareholders during the company’s years of rapid expansion.
Griffiths had moved to Thailand in 2007 following the breakdown of his first marriage, with whom he had three children. He subsequently married a Thai national with whom he had a son and a daughter, though that marriage had also reportedly ended in the years before his death. He is survived by five children.
Thai police said their investigation was continuing. The results of the full post-mortem and any further forensic analysis would be made available to the family and to British consular officials, but no timeline was given. British authorities said they remained in contact with their Thai counterparts.
