Financial Times25 Mar 2021 08:58
Online fashion retailer Boohoo has published a full list of its UK suppliers, highlighting a reduction in numbers due to industry consolidation and a severing of links with some less reputable companies.
The company said it had “ceased doing business with a number of manufacturers who were unable to demonstrate the high standard of transparency required” and that remaining suppliers were required to bring cut-make-trim units in-house “to allow for greater oversight and remove the issue of unapproved subcontracting”.
Boohoo committed itself to strengthening internal controls so that orders could only be raised with approved suppliers that have a current audit on record.
The fast-fashion group is launching a sustainability strategy, known as UP Front, designed to reduce the group’s carbon footprint, reduce waste and “use our size and scale for good”.
Many of the measures were recommended in an independent report by senior lawyer Alison Levitt last year, which was commissioned after further allegations about the treatment of garment workers in Boohoo’s UK supply chain.
Levitt criticised the company for not being able to produce a full list of authorised suppliers, a situation that enabled widespread subcontracting among the small-scale garment factories in Leicester, many of which failed to comply with UK minimum wage or health and safety legislation.
Looking positive for Boohoo. Just look out for more press articles.