Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani is facing accusations of unethical business dealings after a BBC Panorama investigation which produces and sells so many of Britain’s clothes, continual revelations of factory workers being abused and underpaid have long been blamed on bully-boy retailers who order the garments.
The person charged with monitoring the reforms, the retired judge Sir Brian Leveson, also underlined that paying fair prices for clothes had to be at the very heart of Boohoo’s efforts. “Cost,” he wrote, “is the critical element in order to demonstrate that what Boohoo has ordered from a supplier can be delivered in an ethically compliant manner.” To help ensure this would happen, Kamani gave up his day-to-day control of pricing on individual orders.
She heard a manager telling colleagues that just like in those 2018 emails, Kamani was once again ordering them to run every purchase price by him personally. “We’re not able to tick anything through without it having Mahmud’s approval first,” the buyer told their team. It was depressing to hear this and important to disclose it. But I can’t say I was surprised back then and I can’t pretend to be shocked at the latest claims – especially as another undercover reporter forEmma Lowther secretly filmed her time working at Boohoo HQ “We need to reform an industry where rich men micromanage huge businesses and have the power to dictate terms and conditions for suppliers,” says Muller.