Due diligence laws would have held Boohoo liable

LONDON – Fast fashion retailer Boohoo would have been liable for human rights breaches under proposed new human rights and environmental due diligence guidelines. This is the finding of a new legal review into Boohoo’s Leicester textile supply chains which documents previous evidence of exploitative conditions and illegal underpayment of garment workers.

The review, by Tim Otty QC and Naina Patel of Blackstone Chambers – commissioned by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and Corporate Justice Coalition – builds on the finding in Boohoo’s own review into its supply chain that, “There may be evidence of breaches of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”