This week a number of serious allegations have been made about the treatment of people working in the garment industry in Leicester. As one of a number of retailers that source products in the area, boohoo wants to reiterate that it does not and will not condone any incidence of mistreatment of employees and of non-compliance with our strict supplier code of conduct.

Boohoo remains committed to supporting UK manufacturing and is determined to drive up standards where this is required. Where help and support for improvement is required we have and will continue to provide it, to ensure that everyone working to produce clothing in Leicester is properly remunerated, at least the National Minimum Wage, fairly treated and safe at work. However, we will not hesitate to immediately terminate relationships with any supplier who is found not to be acting within both the letter and spirit of our supplier code of conduct. This includes very clear expectations on transparency about second tier suppliers.

We are grateful to the Sunday Times for highlighting the conditions at Jaswal Fashions, which, if they are as described by the undercover reporter, are totally unacceptable and fall woefully short of any standards acceptable in any workplace. Our investigations have shown that Jaswal Fashions is not a declared supplier, and is no longer trading as a garment manufacturer. It therefore appears that a different company is usingJaswal's former premises and we are currently trying to establish the identity of this company. We are taking immediate action to thoroughly investigate how our garments were in their hands, and we will ensure that our suppliers immediately cease working with this company

Our support for UK manufacturing is not driven by price; in fact, overseas pricing is much more competitive. Our international distribution centre is located in the UK and having a local supply base enables shorter lead times and supports our agile business model.

In 2019, we retained the services of a third party compliance specialist to strengthen our compliance and auditing programme. Boohoo are keen and willing to work with local officials to raise standards because, we are absolutely committed to eradicating any instance of non-compliance and to ensuring that the actions of a few do not continue to undermine the excellent work of many of our suppliers in the area, who work tirelessly to provide good jobs and good working conditions.

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Boohoo.com plc published this content on 05 July 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 06 July 2020 07:13:01 UTC