Missguided inspectors ‘chased out’ of factory by workers

Clothing retailer, Missguided’s head of product quality Paul Smith, has said the company’s inspectors were “chased out” of a supplier’s factory by workers after asking questions about their sourcing.

Smith also claimed his staff had been threatened and assaulted by workers at the Leicester factory. He said: “These were people we were scoping out and didn’t like the questions we were asking. A former director was physically chased out of the building; another of my employees was held by the throat and pushed out of the door.”

Environmental Audit Committee chair, Mary Creagh, asked Smith what he felt the factory was hiding, Smith replied “underpayment of workers”. Smith told the committee that 30% of Missguided’s production comes from Leicester, with 50% from China and the remaining products made in Pakistan, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Vietnam.

The events come after Missguided CEO Nitin Passi declined to give evidence to a Parliamentary hearing looking at the effects of ‘fast fashion’ on the environment. When declining to speak at the hearing Passi called the committee they were “people trying to create a story and you are the bait”.