Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

UK workers making clothes for high street brands on paltry wages: TV investigation

Published 23/01/2017, 18:40
Updated 23/01/2017, 18:50
© Reuters. Women hold New Look shopping bags on Oxford Street in London

© Reuters. Women hold New Look shopping bags on Oxford Street in London

By Magdalena Mis

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Workers in Britain making clothes for popular high street retailers like River Island and New Look are being paid less than half the minimum wage, an investigation by Britain's Channel 4 television has found.

The investigation, due to be broadcast on Monday evening, found Leicester-based Fashion Square (NYSE:SQ) Ltd and United Creations Ltd, where the clothes were made, paid their employees between 3 pounds and 3.5 pounds per hour.

The hourly rate for the national living wage in Britain is 7.20 pounds for workers 25 years and older.

A Channel 4 reporter who was employed by Fashion Square to label clothes for River Island for 3 pounds per hour, recorded one of the bosses saying competition with Asian exporters was the reason the company wasn't paying the minimum wage.

"We don't get paid much for our clothes, and we need to compete with China and Bangladesh," Channel 4's Dispatches programme quoted the man as saying. "If we pay everyone 10 pounds or 6 pounds then we will make a loss."

Fashion Square and United Creations denied to the programme makers that anyone at their factories was paid below the legal minimum wage.

River Island told Channel 4 it removed Fashion Square from their suppliers' list in February 2016 following two failed audits.

The reporter also had a 3.50 pound per hour job at another Leicester-based factory which -- as a subcontractor -- was producing clothes for New Look, said Channel 4.

A New Look spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the company reduced the number of U.K. suppliers by 80 percent since 2011 in an effort to address potential weaknesses in the supply chain.

The company said it terminated their relationship with the company that subcontracted the orders.

Channel 4 said the reporter was paid 3.25 pounds per hour by United Creations, Ltd., a factory making clothes for Boohoo and Missguided.

Boohoo told Channel 4 it was in talks with United Creations to make sure workers were paid at least the minimum wage, while Missguided said it launched an internal investigation into the allegations.

Both Fashion Square and United Creations denied paying anyone below the minimum wage, Channel 4 said.

© Reuters. Women hold New Look shopping bags on Oxford Street in London

River Island did not immediately respond to requests from the Thomson Reuters Foundation for comment.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.