In the last six months, Boohoo has faced a number of challenges, but chief executive John Lyttle and the board are confident they are on the right path.

While many fashion retailers have struggled in recent months due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, fast-fashion pureplay Boohoo has seen sales and profits soar as more customers chose to shop online in the midst of the pandemic.

John Lyttle

John Lyttle: ‘We have the ability to be a real driving force behind positive change’

With its “speed to market” and “test-and-learn” approaches, the retailer, which owns Boohoo Man, PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, Miss Pap, Karen Millen, Coast, Oasis and Warehouse as well as its eponymous label, was able to quickly pivot its styles to match lockdown trends such as loungewear and athleisure, making it a popular choice for consumers.

On July 5, allegations of modern slavery at some of Boohoo’s suppliers in Leicester came to light, prompting the retailer to launch an independent review into its supply chain led by Alison Levitt QC.

The results of the review and a list of recommendations were revealed fully last week, and Lyttle has confirmed Boohoo will implement all the suggestions Levitt made in the coming years.

Far from being cowed by the challenges of the last six months, Lyttle recognises that Boohoo ”won’t succeed” if things don’t change, and has vowed to “get it right” in Leicester in order to support a sustainable future for the group.

“Boohoo has a huge influence on the UK textile industry,” he said.

“Our ongoing commitment both to UK manufacturing and also to working in conjunction with local partners to improve standards in the region means we have the ability to be a real driving force behind positive change.

“We are aware that we will not achieve our ambition to be the fashion ecommerce leader, not be a strong investment proposition and not succeed if we do not get this right in terms of compliance and sustainability.”

Boohoo has identified four key stages in its plan to revamp its supply chain and ensure total compliance: first, completing an audit of its supply chain in partnership with compliance specialist Verisio; second, accelerate its compliance programme including Levitt’s recommendations from the independent review; third, create a roadmap for its UK supply chain and publish a list of suppliers; and finally, roll out the learnings to its international supply chain.

Lyttle said Boohoo is still in the process of setting out a timeframe for completing each of these stages and implementing all of Levitt’s changes, but the group has already followed some suggestions, for example hiring a director of sustainability and a director of responsible sourcing.

He told Retail Week: “We’re committed to doing everything said in the review. As you can imagine, we got the document last week so we’re in the process of evaluating each recommendation – what does it require, when can we complete it by?

“It was only this time last year that we talked about breaking the billion-pound barrier and now we’ve reached £1.5bn. We’re growing very fast, we need more capacity. But equally, we need more categories”

John Lyttle, Boohoo

”I’ve made a number of statements about what we can do in the next six months and what we can do in the next 12 months, so it’s not something we want to dwell on for years – we want to do it all in a very reasonable timeframe, but we’re still working through the details.”

He also said that as the company grows, it will look to source products further afield as well as placing bigger orders with a limited number of UK suppliers.

“I would describe it as consolidation,” he said. “We’re not looking to reduce the volume of products we source in the UK, but consolidating the number of people we work with so that we drive more volume through a smaller number, meaning better efficiency. It will be better-planned production.

“We’re growing at 45% in the last six months. It was only this time last year that we talked about breaking the billion-pound barrier and now we’ve reached £1.5bn. We’re growing very fast, we need more capacity. But equally, we need more categories – things like jeans, cosmetics, jackets, knitwear. These are a lot of categories that just aren’t made in the UK so naturally, our international supply chain will grow. 

”When you think about where, I’d describe it as the usual places. If you look at China, for example, just under 50% of the world’s garments and textiles come out of China so we’ll definitely be expanding there. We’ll be expanding in Bangladesh, Turkey – the usual sourcing countries really.”

When asked why the board was confident in the future success of the retailer’s various brands, Lyttle said: “I think everything we’ve achieved in the last six-and-a-half years since our IPO has been very successful. We’ve overcome the past six months in terms of Covid-19 and continued to keep the business growing, continued in the M&A field. We clearly have work to do regarding compliance and our supply chain but equally, as we’ve done in other areas of our business, we’re very confident that we can achieve that and deliver on it.”

Boohoo bought struggling fashion retailer’s Oasis and Warehouse out of administration in June – much like it did with Karen Millen and Coast last year – after it raised £200m in funding specifically for M&A.

The retailer has successfully integrated all four brands into its ecosystem, releasing hundreds of new styles a week.

Lyttle would not say which acquisitions Boohoo currently has its eyes on, but said it was reviewing “lots of different opportunities”, including some internationally.