Good post8 Jul 2020 16:41
from reddit.
Commented the below in another Boohoo post, so posting it here too.
If there's one thing that trumps ****ty business practices it's fast fashion.
The customer demographic in the fast fashion sector doesn't overly care or even know about about the awful business practices of companies like Boohoo, ASOS, Primark and so on. They want fashionable, trendy clothes for cheap, and they rarely if ever look into how these clothes are produced and at what human cost it took to make them.
Let's not forget that companies like Apple have had some very serious allegations against them for using poorly paid labour, the factories in China even put up nets to stop people from committing suicide. I would imagine these working standards haven't improved much in recent years, there are reports of Foxxcon breaking Chinese labour laws as recent as September 2019, yet every day on here people recommend Apple as a stock, and buy iPhones and Apple products.
Also if you read the stories about this, they are focused on a garment factory in Leicester, with a company operating in it called 'Jaswal Fashions'. Apparently this company doesn't supply to Boohoo, and according to Jaswal Fashions, they do not work in that factory and some other company is trying to operate under their name. Jaswal Fashions ceased trading in 2018.
Poor working conditions for garment workers are nothing new, it's never stopped them in the past, and it won't stop them now. In a week or two all Boohoo's customers will have forgotten about this (if they cared or even knew about them to begin with), they will be back to buying the clothes and the investors who panic sold will be back.
Could this be the tip of the iceberg? Maybe, it's possible that there are more issues regarding Boohoo that are causing this share price drop. A short seller called out Boohoo recently with claims of faking profits, but I always take short sellers accusations with a pinch of salt - they stand to gain from their accusaions being true. But if the only reason is these allegations of poor working conditions, I think it will rise again within the next week or two. It's a strong company, with good financials, a large increasing customer base and has done VERY well during the pandemic.
I have a position that i'm holding in order not to make a loss, then I will probably sell once it comes back up. For the record I don't condone the practices in the fast fashion sector, and will probably sell as I need to start looking at my investments from a more ethical standpoint.