Promises made by Boohoo to produce its clothes fairly and ethically at its new Thurmaston Lane plant in Leicester have been broken, according to BBC’s Panorama.
An undercover reporter at the fast fashion retailer’s Manchester HQ saw evidence of staff pressuring suppliers to drive prices down, even after deals had been agreed.
It comes after the business pledged to overhaul its practices in 2020 as it promised to change the way it operated, launching its “Agenda for Change” programme.
The move was sparked by reports that staff at a factory making Boohoo clothes in Leicester were earning less than the minimum wage and in unsafe working conditions.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
Since the modern slavery accusations, the Manchester-headquartered company has pushed the factory as a beacon of manufacturing excellence offering end-to-end garment production in the UK.
But BBC reporter Emma Lowther saw those promises being consistently undermined during her 10 weeks undercover at Boohoo’s head office in Manchester, where she worked as an admin assistant.
The programme says that “hundreds” of orders placed with Thurmaston Lane were actually being manufactured in seven others factories in Morocco and four in Leicester.
Boohoo said the factory was opened to “support the group in several ways, including manufacturing, printing and training.”
It added: “As in any retail business, the role of our sites continue to evolve over time.”
Secret filming by Panorama at one of Boohoo’s suppliers – a factory called MM Leicester Clothing – also revealed that staff were told on multiple occasions they may need to work late shifts with little notice to get Boohoo’s orders completed.
The factory took orders for more than 70,000 Boohoo pieces of clothing between January and June this year.
The Panorama footage shows workers telling bosses they need to go home to feed their families. Panorama says a supervisor later told them: “No-one is leaving at eight, or 10, or later.”
Boohoo suppliers have to sign up to a code of conduct which says overtime should be voluntary.
MM Leicester told the BBC that its normal hours are 8am-6pm and it “never forces workers to stay late”.
Boohoo said MM Leicester Clothing was “subject to regular audits and unannounced checks” simialr to all its factories.
The company added: “We take any breach of our supplier Code of Conduct extremely seriously and are currently investigating Panorama’s claims.
“[Boohoo has invested] significant time, effort and resource into driving positive change” across “every aspect” of its business and supply chain.
The company added that it had complied with all of the recommendations Levitt made in her 2020 review, including “improving corporate governance” and “strengthening the ethical and compliance obligations on those wishing to supply Boohoo”.
Boohoo has responded to the BBC by saying: “We take any breach of our supplier Code of Conduct extremely seriously and are currently investigating Panorama’s claims.”
Retail Gazette has contacted Boohoo for comment.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
