Leading figures from the fashion industry gathered in London’s East End to hear pioneering online guru Nick Robertson deliver his first masterclass lecture as a professor.

He is one of the biggest names in the global fashion industry who took a gamble and started his ‘Asos’ fashion website in 2002—it’s now globally worth £2 billion.

Prof Robertson topped the Drapers 100 ‘most influential people’ list last year, followed by his asos.com being named ‘E-Retailer of the Year’ at the Retail Week awards earlier this year.

His inaugural professorial lecture at Glasgow Caledonian University’s London campus in Spitalfields on ‘retailing in the New Age’ was packed with industry figures, students and staff to hear his success story.

“I hope my lecture gave a better insight into the world of online retailing as well as starting up on your own,” he said afterwards. “The GCU has a good reputation and the calibre of its graduates is high—I was delighted so many turned up.”

Prof Robertson was awarded an OBE in 2011 for ‘achievements in the fashion retailing world’ while his website has been credited for pioneering online fashion in the UK and now on an international stage with specific sites in the US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia. His company opened its first overseas office in Sydney, with a second office in New York and two more on the Continent in Lille and in Berlin.