Social licence: How financial markets can switch focus and help solve humanity’s greatest challenges July 21, 2020 If there was ever any question as to whether we value human life more than money, the coronavirus pandemic has surely answered it. The protection of ordinary people, in this country and indeed in almost every country in the world, has come at an extraordinary economic cost. Yet only a minority of people have dared [...]
The Boohoo scandal shouldn’t shock anyone — modern slavery is a pandemic July 21, 2020 No brand today should be “shocked and appalled” at what happens in its own supply chain, as fast fashion brand Boohoo recently claimed to be. To know so little about the sourcing, processes and practices involved in creating a product you sell should be a crime itself. Tales of UK-based sweat shops and modern slavery [...]
Fast fashion firms Asos and Missguided call for action on UK worker exploitation July 20, 2020 Fast fashion retailers Asos and Missguided have called for urgent government action over the exploitation at UK clothing factories, after rival e-commerce firm Boohoo was embroiled in a scandal over the treatment of workers in Leicester. In a letter to home secretary Priti Patel, a group of retailers, MPs and investors, including Allianz Global Investors, [...]
Leicester lockdown to be eased on 24 July July 16, 2020 Leicester’s local lockdown will be eased on 24 July, after a drop in its coronavirus infection rate. Schools, early years child care and some non-essential retail shops will be allowed to reopen next week, but restaurants and pubs will remain closed. Restrictions on travel and meeting more than six people will also remain in place. [...]
Boohoo ‘aware of poor working practices’ in Leicester since 2018, MPs say July 16, 2020 Boohoo was aware of poor working practices at clothing factories in Leicester as early as 2018, MPs have said in a letter to the fast fashion firm. The e-commerce retailer last week launched an independent review of its UK supply chain following allegations of poor conditions and underpayment of workers at the Jaswal Fashions factory [...]
Coronavirus: Leicester lockdown to be reviewed on Thursday July 14, 2020 The local Leicester lockdown will be reviewed on Thursday to assess whether it is safe for the city to partially reopen, health secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed. Hancock said “numbers have been coming down in Leicester”, but that “the number of positive cases in Leicester is still well above the rest of the country”. The [...]
Boohoo shares continue downward spiral amid sales slump warnings July 14, 2020 Boohoo shares continued to slump this morning after more than three days of losses, following allegations of poor working conditions in the fast fashion firm’s garment factories that have weighed on analysts’ sales forecasts. Shares slumped 17.7 per cent to 230p yesterday, after hovering around the 410p mark for the majority of June. Investors continued [...]
Businesses must find their purpose, or risk becoming the next corporate scandal July 14, 2020 In the midst of a pandemic, the corporate scandals keep coming. The most recent is Boohoo, a previously admired brand in the fashion industry that has been accused of sourcing clothes from a Leicester factory where workers were paid as little as £3.50 an hour. For many in the fashion industry, the darker side of [...]
The City View: Miles Roberts on the packaging business July 13, 2020 Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS In today’s episode – the first recorded from City AM’s offices – Andy is joined by Miles Roberts, CEO of FTSE-100 packaging firm DS Smith. Miles and Andy discuss the impact of lockdown on packaging, what innovation looks like when it comes to cardboard, and post-Brexit goods regimes. They [...]
Boohoo shares plunge as major shareholder dumps stock July 13, 2020 Boohoo shares continued last week’s downturn this morning, slumping as much as 15.4 per cent as the decision by one of the fast fashion retailer’s biggest shareholders to dump the majority of its stock continued to spook investors. Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA), the UK’s largest listed asset manager, on Friday sold off shares in the [...]