Boohoo ditches 400 suppliers after Leicester factory scandal

BOOHOO has severed ties with more than 400 suppliers after a report revealed lifethreatening conditions and illegal wages in its Leicester factories.

The fast-fashion seller revealed a list of 78 approved firms across 100 factories – down from 500 suppliers a year ago.

It was forced to act after newspaper investigations revealed that staff were being paid as little as £3.50 per hour.

Boohoo ditched firms ‘who were unable to demonstrate the high standard of transparency required, despite being provided with opportunities to address any issues identified in the auditing process’.

The announcement is part of a wideranging plan to repair Boohoo’s reputation and revive its share value, which tumbled by £1bn in just a few days last July. Next and Asos dropped Boohoo clothing from their websites, forcing the company to hire Alison Levitt QC to investigate.

She found senior staff had known about the ‘serious and endemic’ issues since December 2019 – eight months before it became public.

She said much of the workforce was denied sick pay and paid holidays, and worked ‘excessive’ hours in life-threatening conditions.

Sir Brian Leveson, the judge hired to oversee the improvement programme, said: ‘There is no doubt about the determination of all those involved to address the failings for which Boohoo has been criticised.’

Boss John Lyttle said: ‘This is not the end of a project for us at Boohoo but the beginning of a new way of working with our suppliers.’