Boohoo’s CEO John Lyttle wrote a letter to Philip Dunne, chair of the UK government’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), in December confirming that it was no longer working with one of the suppliers featured in the BBC documentary.
The Panorama show, which originally aired in November 2023, included footage of staff being forced to work overtime to meet the demands of a Boohoo order.
Lyttle said: “We have since conducted a responsible exit for the supplier and have removed them from our published list of approved manufacturers. We do not tolerate non-compliance with our Boohoo Group Code of Conduct and will take appropriate action, including conducting a responsible exit, where necessary.”
The letter also addressed claims made in the documentary over orders placed using Boohoo’s Thurmaston Lane factory. The BBC documentary alleged that orders placed with Thurmaston Lane were being made elsewhere.
Lyttle said that as the factory is owned and managed by Boohoo, orders placed from suppliers at the site are not sub-contracting, which Boohoo prohibited its suppliers from doing in 2020.
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Boohoo’s Lyttle addressed further concerns raised in the BBC documentary about cost pressure placed on its suppliers.
Lyttle claimed that the average cost of fabric and cotton have fallen in recent months, after a period of inflation, alongside reduced costs in energy and transport. He said that “it is only correct” that Boohoo’s suppliers should reflect recent cost reductions in pricing.
“This is standard industry practice and there are numerous other examples of UK retailers taking similar steps,” Lyttle claimed. He added that this was a temporary measure and not an ongoing process.
Lyttle also refuted the documentary’s claims that Boohoo was rowing back on public commitments. “This is categorically not true,” he said, detailing a number of steps Boohoo has taken as part of its “Agenda for Change” since 2020.
The EAC’s Dunne said that MPs at the Environmental Audit Committee had discussed its content, but also noted further allegations of malpractice at Boohoo.
The company was recently under fire for mislabeling items as “Made in the UK”, though they had been sourced abroad.
The EAC decided to publish Lyttle’s letter, as well as Dunne’s response.
In a statement, Dunne added: “Over the years, the Committee has shone a light on issues around sustainability and alleged concerns of poor working practices in the fast fashion industry. When appearing before the Committee in December 2020, and in its follow-up correspondence, Boohoo made clear that a number of improvements in governance and its supply chain were underway.
“BBC Panorama’s investigation was therefore troubling to us, as it appeared a number of these commitments were not being advanced. We publish today the chief executive’s letter to the Committee that sets out the company’s view of the allegations made in the broadcast.
“Since BBC Panorama’s programme aired in November 2023, there has been subsequent reporting of evidence of incorrect labelling by the company at its Thurmaston Lane site, which the company does not contest. This evidence of incorrect labelling practices is concerning: when consumers see labels describing a garment’s country of origin, they expect them to be accurate. I trust that the company is taking urgent steps to ensure that correct labelling practices are in place across its UK operations.”
Boohoo declined to comment further on the story when approached by Just Style.
