Ultra-fast fashion brand BooHoo came under spotlight recently when a news journal published investigations showing workers at its Leicester’s factory working throughout the lockdown earning as little as £3.50 per hour which is way below the UK National Minimum Wage of £8.72. The investigations revealed that workers were forced to work despite being infected and contract violations were widespread.
BooHoo responded by declaring it will stop working with the accused factories. However, experts believe, the brand will have to survive the situation and repeat somewhere else. With fabric price, trim price, their marketing budgets, head office salaries and insane management bonuses; it is simply not possible to have anything else, but cheap labor.
Most consumers have no idea where their clothes are made. While sustainability advocates may want to pressure brands to label their products, most customers don’t even check the label on the clothing while browsing. Hence, brands sell their clothes at price points that are set by the market. BooHoo managed to capture the space for ultra cheap, ultra fast fashion and serve what the consumers wanted, experts believe. Hence, to change the buying habits of an entire generation of consumers, the industry needs to combine price regulation with education. Till then such scandals will continue to break and grab headlines.
