Boohoo response5 Jul 2020 22:05
First time poster !
Don’t know if anyone has seen this response from
Boohoo’s plc website ?
‘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 using Jaswal’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.‘
This is a solid response and pokes holes in some of the investigations , as does their previous response to the ‘Labour behind the label report’ .
I think Boohoo is a great share and investment, but as this statement/response is not being widely publicised, the SP is probably sadly going to drop. I’ll be adding to my position if it does drop Significantly though.