Online fashion star Boohoo has become too big to countenance links with Leicester factories alleged to operate under Dickensian conditions in flagrant breach of the law.

Boohoo’s prowess has enabled rapid growth and bucked the wider fashion market trend. 

Such has been the etailer’s success that, even though listed on AIM, it is capitalised at £3.6bn – almost twice that of Marks & Spencer – and that’s after Boohoo’s share price fell off a cliff yesterday following the Leicester ‘slave labour’ revelations in The Sunday Times.

“Investors will expect Boohoo to act like the big company it is, with all the governance and social responsibility obligations that brings”

Boohoo’s success and scale have unsurprisingly attracted big-name investment institutions. Apparently happy to engage with the retailer over the claims, nevertheless they, as well as potentially the etailer’s customers, will take a dim view. 

They will expect Boohoo to act like the big company it is with all the governance and social responsibility obligations that brings.

The allegations are all the more pressing and disappointing for Boohoo given it is not the first time such concerns have surfaced. 

Similar allegations were made a few years ago by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme. And just last week campaign group Labour Behind the Label claimed that workers in Leicester factories supplying Boohoo were being forced to work while infected with coronavirus. 

“Leicester’s problems go beyond anything involving individual retailers and have so far confounded a variety of efforts to address them”

Leicester has long been a running sore in the fashion supply chain. Two years ago, former New Look chief executive Anders Kristiansen told the Financial Times: “When I came to the UK and I discovered what was going on in Leicester, it was mind-blowing. How can society accept it – not even society, how can the government accept it?”

His point was well made because Leicester’s problems go beyond anything involving individual retailers and have so far confounded a variety of efforts to address them, including those by the Ethical Trading Initiative.

Even so, retailers must play their part in ensuring ethical and legal standards are adhered to – and Boohoo must step up to the plate if it is found wanting.

There are plenty of previous examples of retailers that faced criticism over factory conditions – typically abroad, in countries such as Bangladesh – that acted decisively in response. 

The most obvious one is Primark, which in the past was frequently targeted, sometimes unfairly, over the human cost of its low priced goods. 

The retailer took on board the concerns, and when the fast fashion industry was investigated by MPs 18 months ago, Primark was judged to be one of the retailers “most engaged” with the ethical and sustainability issues raised. Boohoo was deemed one of the “least engaged”. 

Boohoo’s chief executive John Lyttle, who has been in post for little more than a year, is a former chief operating officer of Primark. His experience should mean he is well placed to get to the heart of any problems at Boohoo.

Similarly, Boohoo co-founder and executive chair Mahmud Kamani has spent a lifetime in the garment trade. There is nobody who could pull the wool over his eyes when it comes to the fashion supply chain.

“If serious ethical concerns could be addressed by retailers somewhere as far away as Bangladesh, they can surely be dealt with in the East Midlands”

It is surprising, therefore, that Kamani apparently hasn’t spotted and stamped out such issues before now, but his expertise can certainly help the etailer navigate the Leicester minefield in the coming months.

The damage to Boohoo is mounting. As Retail Week revealed today, online giants Asos and Zalando have both delisted Boohoo brands, as has Next.

So this is urgent. But Leicester is not Bangladesh; it’s an hour or two’s drive from London or Manchester. If serious ethical concerns could be addressed by retailers somewhere as far away as Bangladesh, they can surely be dealt with in the East Midlands. 

Suppliers in Leicester who do obey the law need to do their part too, by rooting out the skimmers and scammers who are undermining the city’s reputation in fashion supply.

If that doesn’t happen, retailers such as Boohoo will have no option but to cut ties.

In developing countries such as Bangladesh, the argument is often made that it is better to engage with factories that fail to meet standards and help to raise them so that those who can least afford to suffer do not end up paying the price by losing their livelihoods.

That argument doesn’t stand up in Leicester, in a country where even amid Covid-19 and its aftermath there are opportunities for paid employment that meet all the legal obligations.

If Leicester suppliers need a shock, Boohoo should, as it has promised to do, administer it by terminating relationships with rogue manufacturers and withdrawing its business entirely from the city if necessary.