Scots fashionista Emily Shak has been slammed on Instagram after posting a series of looks with fashion website Boohoo.
The design company has been the subject of claims that staff at one of its Leicester factories were paid as little as £3.50 an hour, and were working without proper equipment to guard against coronavirus.
In her most recent Instagram video, Emily paired together seven outfits from Boohoo which were inspired by Friends star Jennifer Aniston and her casual looks.
While many of her followers loved the video, others commented under the post saying Shak was irresponsible for promoting the brand amidst the ‘sweat shop scandal’. Many commentators also claimed Shak was deleting negative comments on the post.
However, the 30-year-old has hit back saying no comments ‘have been deleted and these accusation are both false and misleading.
Her spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Record: “Any comments made on Emily’s post are all visible.”
Fans were quick to point out the issues over Boohoo.
One said: “How can you still be promoting boohoo… #payyourworkers.”
While another added: “Boohoo workers working in unsafe conditions during a pandemic leaving them to be at high risk to coronavirus… so you can post many outfits a week… encouraging all ur followers to do the same…’
‘Hi @emilyshak ! I’m just wondering how you and your one million followers feel about boohoo’s manufacturers paying garment workers £3.50-£4.00 an hour, in factories that haven’t put any COVID-19 related safety measures into place (including forcing workers to come in despite reporting sickness), with this being widely reported in the last 3/4 days, and then you’ve proceeded to promote not one garment, but seven entire outfits from the brand?’
And one wrote: “Hey, are you OK with the fact that boohoo garment worked in the UK are paid only £3.50 an hour? @labourbehindthelabel for more information, please inform yourself and use your platform responsibly.”
Employees at Jaswal Fashions which produces clothes for Boohoo are said to work for less than half the national minimum wage.
In an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times, a reporter at the warehouse filmed himself in the working conditions.
(Image: Instagram)
The footage showed no additional hygiene or social distancing measures in place, despite a second outbreak of the virus in the city.
Boohoo bosses have said a full investigation is underway and any supplier ‘flouting the law’ will be terminated.
A spokesperson told the Record: “First and foremost, I just want to reiterate that Boohoo categorically does not condone any instance of mistreatment of people working in the garment industry.
(Image: Instagram)
“Any supplier found to be actively flouting the law around pay; conditions or treatment will be immediately terminated. We have immediately begun to investigate how our garments were in the hands of a supplier who was not on our approved list, and will ensure that no one in our supply chain is using this supplier.”
John Lyttle, Group CEO, also released a statement: “As a board we are deeply shocked by the recent allegations about the Leicester garment industry.
“We wish to reiterate how seriously we are taking these matters and we will not hesitate to terminate any relationships where non-compliance with our Code of Conduct is found.
“Our commitment to an incremental £10 million of investment demonstrates our resolve to enforce the highest standards of ethics, compliance and transparency for the benefit of all garment workers. We look forward to regularly updating our stakeholders as we move through this process.”
