Leicester factories a “ticking time bomb” say fashion bosses

Reports over the weekend have said that unsafe working conditions in some Leicester factories are a “ticking time bomb”, according to two top fashion bosses.

The Telegraph reports that Nick Beighton, chief executive of Asos, and Anders Kristiansen, who heads up New Look have teamed up to campaign over unsafe working practives in factories in Leicester, which currently make up a third of the domestic sector.

The pair are calling for health and safety measures to be introduced to protect workers before they invest more in the UK, says The Telegraph. Both say they want to manufacture their products in the UK, but are wary because of “unsafe and often illegal” conditions.

Beighton is reported as saying: “Our goal is to bring customers the best fashion as quickly as possible, and there’s nothing faster than manufacturing in the UK.

“We would like to triple the amount of product we source from the UK over the next five years.”

Meanwhile, the Telegraph says that Kristiansen said New Look could double the size of its £35m orders from Leicester factories but is “afraid of using these units because what is going on is just so plainly wrong”.

He added: “It is a ticking time bomb,” he added. “Many of these factories have unsafe conditions with fire escapes blocked up, workers exploited and paid far ­below minimum wage. What happens if there is another massive fire, what will it take for people to wake up?”

New Look has reduced the number of UK factories it uses from 118 three years ago to just 12 after a succession of failed inspections.

“Everyone knows what is going on, but no one is listening, they are turning a blind eye to it,” said he said.

He added: “We have worked so hard to improve manufacturing standards in Asia and there are these conditions happening at home. There are already laws that should be preventing this, they just need to be enforced. We are saying, if you enforce the laws, we will invest.”

The Telegraph reports that Beighton and Kristiansen are meeting with Leicester City Mayor Peter Soulsby, HMRC, police and the fire brigade in October to campaign for a stricter enforcement of existing laws.

Earlier this year a Channel 4 documentary has lifted the lid on working conditions inside three of Leicester’s textile factories last night in an investigation which accused one of firms of paying workers just £3 an hour.