Pakistan welcomes fast-fashion brand Boohoo despite poor staff safety claims

Call to set up role comes as report alleges retailer uses factories that violate minimum-wage requirements and workers’ rights

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, has reportedly asked the British fast-fashion brand Boohoo to increase its presence in the country, despite claims that it has failed to tackle poor conditions at its suppliers’ factories there.

In a meeting with Kakar this week, Mahmud Kamani, chairman of Boohoo Group, expressed an interest in establishing long-term buying linkages with Pakistan, according to Radio Pakistan.

Kakar pointed out Pakistan’s pro-investment policies and facilities, and invited Boohoo to open franchises in the country, which is in economic turmoil, with a record inflation rate of 36.4%.

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Boohoo starts charging shoppers £1.99 to return items

Processing of unwanted items has become increasing problem for retailers since Covid online boom

The fast fashion website Boohoo has become the latest online retailer to start charging shoppers to return items.

Boohoo customers will now have to pay £1.99 when they send unwanted goods back, and the cost will be deducted from the amount they are refunded.

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Boohoo likely to raise prices after pre-tax profits fall 94%

Fast fashion retailer blames delivery disruption and wavering pandemic demand for increasing costs

Boohoo has admitted its clothing prices are likely to rise this year after profits almost halved amid weakening consumer demand and rising costs.

The online fashion specialist said pre-tax profits fell 94% to £7.8m in the year to 28 February. Sales rose 14% to almost £2bn but growth was down more than 40% in the previous year, as deliveries overseas were held up by disruption to international shipping and wavering demand during the pandemic.

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Boohoo to sell its brands in Debenhams stores in Middle East

Online retailer strikes deal with Kuwait’s Alshaya Group to launch in franchise stores and online

The online fashion retailer Boohoo has struck a deal with Kuwait’s Alshaya Group to sell its brands in franchised Debenhams stores and online in the Middle East.

Alshaya, which already holds the franchise to operate Debenhams stores in the region, will have exclusive rights to operate its shops and websites in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and Qatar.

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Hungry and afraid: life for factory workers meeting UK demand for cheap clothes

Pakistani workers describe trying to survive on the less than £50 a month many of them earn making items for firms such as Boohoo

When Qasim Ahmed* arrived in Faisalabad a year ago, he didn’t want much – just enough money to pay for a roof over his head, buy food and send a little cash home each month.

Today, that seems like a fantasy. Instead of having enough to get by, he claims, he has found himself struggling to survive, frequently going hungry, feeling abused by his boss and fearing he is working in a factory that could go up in flames. “It makes me sad that I can’t help my parents and siblings the way I hoped before coming here,” he says.

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Boohoo selling clothes made by Pakistani workers ‘who earned 29p an hour’

Guardian investigation finds claims of safety issues, with workers saying they sometimes work 24-hour shifts

The fast fashion brand Boohoo is selling clothes made by Pakistani factory workers who say they face appalling conditions and earn as little as 29p an hour, an investigation by the Guardian has found.

In interviews in the industrial city of Faisalabad, workers at two factories claimed they were paid 10,000PKR (£47) a month, well below the legal monthly minimum wage for unskilled labour of 17,500PKR, while making clothes to be sold by Boohoo.

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Revealed: auditors raised minimum-wage red flags at Boohoo factories

Exclusive: Third-party reports set out allegations at 18 Leicester suppliers

The fast-fashion retailer Boohoo has been selling clothes made by at least 18 factories in Leicester that audits say have failed to prove they pay the minimum wage to workers, a Guardian investigation has found.

Third-party audit reports produced over the past four years make claims of “critical” issues over record-keeping and working hours at the time they were written, suggesting that in parts of the supply chain workers may be paid as little as £3-£4 an hour.

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