Sourcing practices of clothing retailers in the UK have come under scrutiny. Online clothing retailers in the UK such as Primark, H&M, and Zara get 21 per cent of their stock from China, 14 per cent from Bangladesh and India and 12 per cent from Vietnam. All these four e-tailers have manufacturing facilities in the UK.

Fashion e-tailers Boohoo, Asos and Missguided were facing scrutiny for below-legal wages and unethical conditions for clothing manufacturing workers. Missguided has reduced its presence in Leicester, after recognizing its inability to satisfactorily audit the factories it was using. Having started this year working with 35 manufacturers at 80 different sites, the company now sources from 12 suppliers at 20 factories.

There have been allegations Boohoo underpays workers and promotes unsustainable and non-environmental consumer buying patterns. In the meantime, retailers in the UK like John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next have agreed to support moves to stop modern slavery in the textile trade.

Global fashion brands have increased the overall social and environmental transparency of their sourcing practices by just five per cent since last year. While many have taken widely publicized steps in recent years to ensure the safe working conditions and living wages of their workers, a lot remains to be done.