Three of the UK’s biggest high street retailers have committed to honour more of their contracts with Asian suppliers under pressure from activitists.
International development charity Traidcraft Exchange said that the agreement to make payments resulted from a campaign that Traidcraft launched to support poor and vulnerable garment workers in countries like India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam.
NEXT, Primark and Pentland have now released public statements affirming that they will pay for more of the goods ordered from suppliers prior to the UK high street shutdown.
The campaign is a response to the knee-jerk reaction of UK fashion brands to the coronavirus crisis which saw them reneging on contracts, possibly unlawfully. Suppliers claim that UK brands are significantly delaying payments, demanding discounts or even refusing to pay for work which had already been completed.
As a result, many factories have had to shut down or lay off workers, leaving millions of vulnerable garment workers destitute.
“By failing to honour their contracts, some of the UK’s biggest fashion brands have left thousands of vulnerable workers destitute at a time of global crisis. Small and ethically run businesses aim to honour contracts that they place with suppliers, so should larger businesses,” said Fiona Gooch, Senior Private Sector Policy Advisor at Traidcraft Exchange.
Traidcraft Exchange has published a comparison table showing the progress of each brand towards full support of their suppliers through the coronavirus crisis.
- NEXT has committed to honour and pay suppliers in full, on normal payment terms, for orders that were due to leave supplier factories up to and including 10 April 2020. After 10 April, NEXT has committed to pay or compensate suppliers for either finished products or fabric; the retailer has also taken steps to ensure workers have been paid for work already completed.
- Primark has committed to pay suppliers for finished orders and orders in production which are planned for handover to Primark by 17 April.
- Pentland has committed to paying for goods produced for Pentland Brands and will continue to purchase during the coronavirus pandemic.
