Boohoo has plenty of ethical scandals under its belt, from allegations of its suppliers in Leicester paying below the minimum wage [which the brand disputes and is subject to a legal complaint] and “demanding” discounts from suppliers on clothing that had already been delivered, to changing supplier payment terms from 30 to 60 days. But until now the fast fashion brand has been able to weather these allegations, often by blaming supposedly rogue actors in its supply chains for independently going against its internal codes of conduct. 

Boohoo couldn’t shrug off all criticism though, so in 2020 it launched a new programme called Agenda For Change, ostensibly to transform it into a leading ethical player in the fashion industry. It even opened its own shiny new factory in Leicester in 2021 – a “manufacturing centre of excellence” – to prove that when it was in charge, everything was perfectly above board, sustainable, and ethical.

But Boohoo’s Broken Promises, a new BBC Panorama documentary, throws its excuses and promises under the spotlight and exposes the reality: the brand is the driving force behind the unethical practices in its supply chain. Reporter Emma Lowther spent ten weeks working undercover as an admin assistant at the brand’s Manchester HQ and while she was there, she got a front row seat to the reality of how the brand operates. 

When Lowther asks a colleague how best to negotiate a good price with suppliers, she replies, “Go in low and if you’re not getting anywhere then just say you can get it cheaper elsewhere… I definitely haven’t… I just lie.” Lying in this manner creates false competition for suppliers and adds pressure on them to reduce prices to secure Boohoo’s business. Later on, we see Chris Grayer, former head of supplier ethical compliance at Next, work out what he thinks two Boohoo dresses, made in the UK, should have cost the brand to buy, taking fabric costs, overheads, labour at the UK minimum wage, and a 10 per cent profit for the manufacturer into account. According to his calculations Boohoo paid just over half of what would be considered a fair price.

Such rock bottom prices along with its practice of requesting {and allegedly applying without agreement] discounts on goods that have already been made, paint a crystal clear picture of Boohoo’s greed and prioritisation of profit over all else. While the documentary shows that its garment makers in Leicester are yelled at, forced to work overtime against their will, and gathering to protest for fair pay and treatment, billionaire brand co-founder Mahmud Kamani is driving around in his Rolls Royce, dictating that all new orders must be personally approved by him, and demanding further price cuts.

After spotting the co-founder at the brand’s summer party, Lowther asks him what his experience of dealing with suppliers is like. “Not good for them. OK for me,” he says, with a laugh. They are not the words of a man who has respect for the people in his supply chain. Rather, he appears to relish crushing them with his profit-maximising deals. The anguish and strain such deals cause suppliers is laid out in an email from one who says a retrospectively applied 10 per cent discount is causing him to work under cost i.e. he’s losing money. No company should profit to the tune of billions by forcing others into financial strife. 

“No company should profit to the tune of billions by forcing others into financial strife” - Sophie Benson

Even Boohoo’s so-called manufacturing centre of excellence appears to be nothing but smoke and mirrors as numerous orders placed at the factory were in fact manufactured elsewhere. Activists, workers, journalists, unions, and campaigners have been raising the alarm about Boohoo for years, and time and time again it responds with platitudes, semantics, statements from lawyers, and bullshit ‘ethical’ programmes. This documentary provides yet more proof that Boohoo is unethical from the top down and has no regard for the vulnerable people in its supply chain. It’s only a matter of time before the next scandal comes to light. 

Among other statements in the documentary Boohoo, says it takes breaches of its supplier codes of conduct extremely seriously and is investigating Panorama’s claims.