Sir Brian Leveson: boohoo “travelling along the right road” with supply chain review

The first independent report into the supply chain practices of fashion brand boohoo has been published today.

The report, led by Sir Brian Leveson, has detailed the need for the online retailer to clearly set out its plans to ensure practices within its supply chain are legal and ethical.

While the report emphasised that “boohoo has enthusiastically started the journey and is travelling along the right road”, it also highlighted that a full culture change and transparent strategy will be needed to support long term change.

The report stated: “What is required is the setting of a shared clear vision of the future for the Group, reinforcing the ethics and compliance agenda through business change, and declaring what boohoo will look like after a successful transition and implementation of change through A4C [Agenda for Change].”

The report follows controversy last year when it was revealed in a Sunday Times article that workers at a Leicester factory in its supply chain were being paid £3.50 an hour and were not being offered protection from COVID-19.

Mahmud Kamani, boohoo’s group executive chairman, commented: “I’m pleased to publish Sir Brian Leveson’s first report today. I’m immensely proud of the speed with which our team has worked to effect change during such a challenging period for the Group, and it’s encouraging to see our progress acknowledged in the report.

“We’ve added further independent experience to the board and its committees in the period, and I was delighted to welcome Shaun McCabe to the board in November.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our team for their exceptional hard work over the last few months, and to reinforce our commitment to being a leader for positive change in UK textiles manufacturing. We have lots to do still, but an exciting year lies ahead for boohoo and our multi-brand platform in 2021.”

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