Inside the lives of Boohoo’s billionaire owners – and a timeline of its scandals

Fashion retailer Boohoo put “Made in the UK” labels on potentially thousands of clothes that were actually made in Asia, according to an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama.

At Boohoo’s flagship factory on Thurmaston Lane in Leicester, clothes had their original labels removed and different ones added, the report states.

This follows news that Boohoo plans to close the site, which has been embroiled in controversy since it was first opened in January 2022. The company said that “significant investments at the Sheffield distribution centre and the opening of a new distribution centre in the US” have led to them to consider relocating the site in Thurmaston.

These latest allegations follow a series of investigations by i that have uncovered malpractice at Bohoo’s factories, ranging from greenwashing and reducing payments to suppliers.

Boohoo denies any wrongdoing and said in a statement responding to the claim that clothing had been mislabelled: “This was an isolated incident, which impacted less than 1 per cent of the group’s global garments intake.

“These errors were found to be the result of human error and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”

^{Who are the owners of Boohoo?}

The Kamini family have become household names in the fast fashion industry and regularly flaunt their lavish lifestyle online.

Mahmud Kamani, 59, founded Boohoo in 2006 with Carol Kane, started out running a Manchester market stall selling handbags after escaping war-torn Kenya.

Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani is facing accusations of unethical business dealings after a BBC Panorama investigation (Photos: Getty)

The entrepreneur first started the fashion chain with executive director Carol Kane, a fashion design graduate who helped Mr Kamani source cheap to produce garments in Asia.

Boohoo is now worth £446m and has accrued into its portfolio brands including Nasty Gal, Coast, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, and Debenhams – while also previously supplying major retailers Primark and New Look with cheap goods.

Mr Kamani stepped down as chief executive to become group executive chairman of Boohoo this year, a role involving the overseeing the running of the entire company.

Over the years the brand made a name for itself as a cheap fashion retailer that delivers clothes fast, but these low costs for consumers have come at a price with allegations of widespread exploitation and greenwashing.

^{Timeline of allegations}

An investigation by i revealed that in September 2022, hundreds of items in the range appear to have been inaccurately labelled as meeting the brand’s own “Ready for the Future” criteria, part of Boohoo’s flagship sustainability range.

Questions about Boohoo’s alleged exploitative practices were first raised with an Ethical Trading Initiative report in 2015, which found garment workers were being paid as little as £3 an hour.

This was followed in June 2020, when workers’ rights group Labour Behind the Label produced a report that claimed factories supplying Boohoo were not following social distancing guidelines and were forcing employees to work even if sick – a claim that Boohoo denies.

Boohoo then pledged to overhaul its practices in 2020, following a Sunday Times investigation which found that working conditions were unsafe and that staff in Leicester were earning less than the minimum wage.

Boohoo again denied the allegations, stating: “We will urgently review our relationship with any suppliers who have sub-contracted work to the manufacturer in question.”

An investigation by The Guardian newspaper in December 2020 traced Boohoo’s supply chain to factories in Pakistan where workers claimed to be paid as low as £47 a month, less than the legal minimum wage, and ordered to work to shifts as long as 24 hours without receiving full overtime pay.

i also investigated the situation in Leicester’s textile sector in 2021, a year after the big Boohoo scandal, and heard multiple accounts of “sweatshop” factories in the city still paying workers less than the minimum wage.

More recently in 2023, a BBC Panorama undercover reporter at the company’s Manchester HQ saw evidence that suggested staff were ordered to pressure suppliers to drive down prices after deals had already been agreed.