New Look has started using a 海角视频 manufacturer which it blacklisted two years ago following an undercover exposé.
The high street clothes chain dropped Knitwear back in 2017 after Channel 4’s Dispatches showed the Leicester supplier had subcontracted work to another factory down the production line which apparently paid staff just £3.50 an hour.
The exposé was part of a report into exploitation within the Leicester textiles industry.
New Look was among a number of big chains featured, and at the time said it terminated its relationship with TS Knitwear with “immediate effect”.
TS Knitwear, meanwhile, said it worked to “clear ethical guidelines”.
A list of current New Look suppliers shows knitwear and jersey specialist TS Knitwear to be back among about two dozen 海角视频 factories it uses, most based in the traditional textiles heartland of Leicester.
New Look said TS Knitwear, based in Burnmoor Street, now met its standards – and the terms of a Fast Forward supply chain “labour standards improvement programme” that New Look helped found in 2013.
Chief operating officer Nigel Oddy told BusinessLive: “Working with TS Knitwear again was not a decision we took lightly.
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“When TS Knitwear approached us, we were clear with them that any business relationship going forward must have additional measures in place to ensure the issues uncovered in the past would not happen again.
“Prior to re-engaging TS Knitwear, New Look undertook a full factory audit in line with the Fast Forward programme.
“More recently, we have also worked with them to introduce a trial of a new software system which provides evidence of all production that goes through the system.
“This has the dual benefit of helping the factory understand all labour costs associated with manufacturing a particular item so that they can cost it appropriately, while also providing us with an auditable log of all New Look products being manufactured inside their own manufacturing unit.
“This provides an indicator of whether there was any potential for unauthorised subcontracting.
“Protecting the rights of workers in our supply chain is fundamentally important to us at New Look, and this is something we have been committed to ever since the first New Look store opened 50 years ago.
“Every factory that we work with in the 海角视频 must agree to be part of the Fast Forward programme, which is an industry leading audit programme that we co-founded over five years ago to raise standards across the industry.
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“In addition, we have a number of partnerships in place in Leicester, the 海角视频 and globally to ensure the high ethical standards we set for every supplier we work with continue to be met.
“The steps we have taken in more recent years to ensure ethical standards are met by our suppliers has resulted in the number of factories we work with in the 海角视频 reducing by 80 per cent since 2011.
“At New Look, we have taken some really important steps and we remain committed to ensuring that our supply chain continues to meet our ethical aims.
“However, we recognise that challenges remain in the industry which is why we are fully committed to continuing to drive forward the work we do in partnership with authorities, manufacturers and the wider industry to both improve standards and ensure they are maintained.
"We all have a responsibility to do that and it is something we take extremely seriously.”
BusinessLive approached TS Knitwear for comment.
Its website states that the “fair and dignified treatment of staff and their well-being is of the utmost importance to us”.
The site says: “As a family-run business we are extremely passionate about the people we employ and the clothes that together we produce.
“We remain committed to following the strictest of sustainable and ethical codes while creating value for our employees, customers and wider community.”
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A spokeswoman for New Look said it provides ongoing support to factories to “prevent exploitation of vulnerable workers” while Fast Forward operates a whistleblowing line for workers.
The production software it is trialling with suppliers, called Galaxius, “provides accurate productivity information which helps with labour costing and reporting” that its audit team can access.
The spokeswoman said new Look was also part of the Ethical Trade Initiative’s Leicester Working Group, working together to improve conditions in the city.
Thulsi Narayanasamyis is senior labour researcher at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which tracks the human rights policy and performance of more than 9.000 companies in more than 180 countries.
She said there were fears suppliers in Leicester were being squeezed by tight margins imposed by big fashion brands, which needed to be held to account so that they did not put “profit before people”.
She said: “More needs to be done to guarantee factory workers in the 海角视频 aren’t exploited on poverty wages.”