"'Working for £3 an hour made me feel dirty'", 17 September 2024

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[Leicester] was once the engine of England's clothing industry, with companies...keeping tens of thousands of people in work.

Then, after many years of factory closures, a profitable new industry arose – fast fashion.

Sub-contractors...offered the flexibility to deliver large orders to tight deadlines, piling the stock high and selling it cheap.

But then the coronavirus pandemic lifted the lid on how intense competition had created widespread exploitation in Leicester's supply chain.

Now the city is fighting to save its garment manufacturing industry once again.

Paramjit Kaur, 61, worked as a sewing machine operator at several Leicester companies after moving from India...

Paramjit says she could not speak English and struggled to find work, so she spent years working in factories that paid her between £3 and £5 an hour.

She says some employers covered their tracks by creating a paper trail, which appeared to show she earned the National Living Wage...

"It felt horrible. 'Keep working, keep working', is what they would say."

The workers have been supported by the Fashion-workers Advice Bureau Leicester (FAB-L), which is funded by retail brands...

Tarek says exploitation in the industry has been the "absolute norm".

However, he adds: "Because the brands have increased their auditing process, and become tighter, the workers we've spoken to mostly say they're being paid the minimum wage."...

But he believes that is the tip of the iceberg...

The group was set up in response to damning headlines about exploitation in Leicester's clothing supply chain during the pandemic.

The tipping point came after barrister Alison Levitt published a scathing report about factories supplying the online fashion retailer, Boohoo.

Tarek says UK fashion brands are now "trying to be reputable", and now most garment workers still employed in Leicester say they are receiving the National Living Wage.

But many workers have lost their jobs as some suppliers shifted contracts overseas.

Several estimates seen by the BBC suggest the vast majority of Leicester's garment factories have closed since the crackdown began.

The Apparel and Textile Manufacturers Federation believes about 700 were operating five years ago, compared to only 60 to 100 now.

Saeed Khilji, from the Textile Manufacturer Association of Leicestershire, believes the scandal in the city did "huge damage" to legitimate clothing businesses that were already struggling to make a profit.

He says that persuaded many retailers to avoid production in Leicester.

The pandemic also drove a rise in online shopping.

Another manufacturer, Alkesh Kapadia, believes that was an even more serious blow to Leicester's business model.

He says the previous model relied on retailers ordering large quantities of each design to fill their stores across the country, whereas online brands need much smaller quantities of each design.

Alkesh used to export clothes from his Leicester factories as far afield as the US, Canada and India.

But he says he has lost £2.5m the past 12 to 18 months because retailers have demanded ever-lower prices at a time when costs have risen...

Alkesh has moved production to Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia

Now his company has moved production to factories in Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia, where manufacturing is cheaper.

Meanwhile, Saeed used six Leicester factories to make his garments, but now he says he only runs an import-export business because the UK is impossible to afford.

"As a factory owner, we not only pay the minimum wage," he says. "There's also national insurance, rent, the electricity bill. Nothing has gone down."

The catalyst for change was two-fold, he says.

"Mainly the price issue. Living costs were rising, but retailers didn't want to pay the price, and secondly, we had sweatshops in Leicester, [but] 95% of factories were good but struggling, because we got this bad name because of this 5%," Saeed adds.

Saeed's factory, in Nottingham Road, never reopened after orders were cancelled during Covid.

"All orders we had stopped," he says. "All fabrics we had, we can't use it. Retailers cancelled orders because they can't sell. When they cancelled, they didn't pay us."

He says that has left him with stock that he cannot sell and will donate to charity.

Saeed says he "cannot see any future" for garment production in Leicester, and Alkesh agrees.

"We are thinking that Leicester will die if you don't do anything now. Even if you do something now, it's very hard to save this industry," Alkesh says.

Alkesh and Saeed are still based in Leicester, but both have set up their own online retail brands to sell imported clothes to customers directly.

However, the non-profit organisation Labour Behind the Label is now campaigning for fashion brands to support the city's ailing manufacturing industry.

It wants brands to commit to ordering at least 1% of their products from Leicester's factories...