At the beginning of July, a factory in Leicester supplying garments for Boohoo was brought into the headlines when an undercover Sunday Times examination found that workers were being paid as little as £3.50 an hour. Boohoo praises themselves for making fashion ‘accessible and fun, so every girl can get the wardrobe of her dreams.’ But this summer the faults in the fast fashion company were too great to be ignored. Not only was the factory found to be paying its workers below the minimum wage but, even during a restricted lockdown, the factory located in Leicester had limited COVID-19 prevention measures.

Although Boohoo pledged to investigate the welfare and pay issues, and end relationships with contractors who did not adhere to their guidelines, the brand’s popularity still took a hit. Rob Davies and Annie Kelly, writing for The Guardian, reported that £1 billion of the company’s value was lost in the first week of July following the allegations being published.

The Boohoo Group PLC owns Boohoo, BoohooMAN, Coast, Karen Millen, MissPap, Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing. The pay issue was compounded by the billionaire status of the Group Executive Chairman – Mahmud Kamani. Numerous companies were quick to lose any associations they had with the brand. For example, Next, Asos and Zalando withdrew Boohoo branded clothes from their websites. The general public also swiftly began to voice their disapproval of Boohoo on social media with a campaign to ‘Boycott Boohoo.’

Now that it has been over a month since the allegations were published, has the scandal left Boohoo with a tainted reputation?

Jim Armitage, a journalist for the Evening Standard, suggested that Boohoo’s presence on social media may save the brand. Armitage reported that Boohoo’s scandal might only ‘take as little as 5% off its sales.’ As well as having 6.7 million followers on Instagram, the brand partners with social media influencers to create extra advertisement. Boohoo’s initiative to work with influencers that are popular amongst teenagers keeps the brand in demand, Armitage reports. It is because teenagers are more likely to follow fashion trends and desire to have an appearance like the influencers on social media that Boohoo dominates the fast fashion market. Even with the scandal, the demand for affordable and trendy fashion has not disappeared. As Great Britain enters a recession, Boohoo may find that consumers have a greater need for cheaper clothing rather than an ethical business model that will likely increase fashion prices.

Nevertheless, it is indisputable that the scandal did begin to educate society about the implications of fast fashion. This is likely to have created a change in attitudes towards hyper-consumerism. Could buying fashion sustainably become the new trend?

Whether the Boohoo scandal has changed attitudes towards fashion consumerism is still unclear. However, it is evident that there are fundamental issues in the fast fashion market. It remains unknown whether Boohoo will raise their prices to help repair their reputation, or whether they will continue to manufacture cheap fashion. Would you rather pay more for clothing and know that the business is sustainable, or stick to fast-fashion bargains?

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