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British clothing major Primark has axed its three Indian suppliers for allegedly using child labour to finish clothes sold on the country's high streets, drawing flak from activists who said the move makes the company's ethical claims ring 'hollow.'
The fashion chain, which sources £700 million worth of clothing from India each year, said it had cancelled all orders from the three companies based in Tiruppur region of the Tamil Nadu, and removed all their garments from its shelves.
Founded in 1969 in Dublin, the retailer which operates 170 stores in the country has grown to become the United Kingdom's second biggest clothing chain by offering cut-price fashion, with T-shirts for as little as £1. Almost its entire range is sourced from low-cost suppliers in Asia.
The company said it had axed the suppliers -- one of whom has been producing garments for the chain since 1996 -- for 'failing to meet its strict ethical standards.'
It said a detailed investigation has found that the three companies had sub-contracted embroidery and sequin work to a number of unapproved businesses where children were involved.
George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods, the parent company of Primark said: "We are appalled, we feel let down and we are taking all the action we can to prevent this happening again."
The move comes after an investigation by the BBC Panorama team whose findings are due to be broadcast next Monday.
Campaign groups rounded on Primark for dropping the suppliers rather than working with them to improve working conditions.
"Cutting and running from suppliers following exposure by campaigners or the media only serves to punish those workers brave enough to speak out about their conditions," Martin Hearson, the campaign director of 'Labour behind the Label,' said.
"It certainly won't do anything to improve their lives. Such actions make Primark's ethical claims ring hollow."
Primark is now, in volume terms, the second biggest clothing retailer in Britain after Marks & Spencer. The popularity of value chains such as Primark and supermarket brands such as George at Asda meant that while the number of clothing items bought between 2001 and 2006 rose by 50 per cent, the amount spent rose by only 25 per cent.
Hearson said: "It wouldn't be fair to say that clothes sold in Primark are made in any worse conditions than any others sold on the high street. However, Primark is driving a change in the industry that is putting ever more pressure on suppliers."
Primark insisted that at no time was it aware that children were being used to finish the products, ranging from T-shirts to skirts.
It said that garments supplied by the companies involved accounted for only 0.04 per cent of the total amount it buys around the world.
A company spokesman said: "Primark prices are low because we don't overcharge our customers. Most of our clothes are bought from the same factories as other fashion retailers and people producing them are paid exactly the same whatever the label and whatever the price in the shop."
Weston said Primark will appoint a non-government organisation in southern India to be its 'eyes and ears on the ground.'