Boohoo forced to speak up after putting ‘Made in UK’ labels on clothes made in Asia – and the real reason it’s so cheap
FAST fashion giant Boohoo has been accused of breaking promises to make clothes ethically.
The brand was recently exposed for putting "Made in the UK" labels into potentially hundreds of thousands of clothes made in Asia.
That means potentially hundreds of thousands of shoppers received incorrectly labelled T-shirts and hoodies, has found.
It is reported that the labels were sewn into clothes made in South Asia at Boohoo's flagship warehouse, Thurmaston Lane in Leicester, last year.
Bosses claimed that the incorrect labels were down to a misinterpretation of the labelling rules - and have blamed "human error".
Now, they are considering shutting the site down.
read more on fashion
The Leicester factory opened two years ago and was marketed by the Manchester-based firm as a manufacturing centre of excellence.
The mislabelling affected up to one in 250 of the fast fashion giant’s global supply of garments between January and October 2023.
The BBC estimates that this could amount to hundreds of thousands of wrongly labelled garments.
However, Boohoo declined to provide price figures following an investigation.
Most read in Fabulous
A spokesperson for Boohoo Group said: "This was an isolated incident, which impacted less than 1% of the Group’s global garments intake.
"These errors were found to be the result of human error and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
How are the clothes so cheap?
In 2023, Boohoo staff pressured suppliers to drive prices down, another .
This happened even after deals with suppliers had been agreed.
The revelation came after the company promised to overhaul its practises in 2020.
Despite being backed by big name celebrities, such as Kourtney Kardashian and Megan Fox, Boohoo saw its revenue drop by 17% in just six months last year.
In 2023, the company's UK revenue was down by 19% and shares were down 10% on last year.
What’s more, sales were expected to decline by between 12% and 17% for 2024.
In 2017, it was named as one of several retailers who used suppliers linked to poor working conditions.
An investigation by Dispatches found poor conditions in clothing factories in Leicester, who supplied Boohoo and other big name outlets.
Dispatches claimed the factory underpaid workers and exposed them to unsafe and unreasonable working conditions.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Following the estimated £1 billion blow to Boohoo’s value following the controversy, bosses decided to set up their own flagship factory in the midland county.
Now, the future of the Thurmaston Lane factory hangs in the balance.