Boohoo cuts ties with hundreds of suppliers following Leicester factory scandal
Online fashion retailer Boohoo has cut ties with hundreds of suppliers as it seeks to improve conditions for factory workers.
The e-commerce giant this morning announced it has “ceased doing business with a number of manufacturers who were unable to demonstrate the high standard of transparency required”.
Boohoo published a list of its 78 approved factories this morning, down from around 200.
The retailer’s share price jumped 3.64 per cent following the update as investors backed its progress with improving its supply chain.
Boohoo said it “remains committed to UK manufacturing and growing volumes with
trusted and compliant suppliers who have demonstrated a desire to deliver the high
standards expected”.
Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said: “This is the not the end of a project for us at Boohoo but the beginning of a new way of working with our suppliers.
“We are driving positive change in the industry and want to play our part in rebuilding a vibrant manufacturing base in Leicester, one that offers good employment and great prospects for the workers and the industry in Leicester as a whole.”
Analysts at Jefferies said the publication of the supplier list is an “important step in re-establishing mommentum in the shares”.
It said investor focus will “turn back to trading and valuation fundamentals”.
Last year an independent review, conducted by Alison Levitt QC, found that allegations of low pay and poor working conditions at Boohoo’s Leicester supplier “not merely well-founded but substantially true”.
It also revealed that the company’s monitoring of its Leicester supply chain was “inadequate”, which was “attributable to weak corporate governance”.
The company vowed to address all of the concerns raised in the report.