By Kristy Dorsey
Scottish fashion chain Quiz has suspended one of its suppliers amid an investigation into allegations of exploitation of workers in Leicester.
According to a report published at the weekend, an undercover journalist was offered just £3 per hour to make clothing for Glasgow-headquartered Quiz. The national minimum wage for workers aged 25 and over is £8.72 per hour.
Responding yesterday, the retailer said if the claims were accurate, they were “totally unacceptable”.
“Quiz is extremely concerned by information recently reported in the media regarding an alleged instance of non-compliance with National Living Wage requirements in a factory making Quiz products in Leicester,” the company said in a statement. “The group is very grateful to the press for highlighting these alleged breaches.
READ MORE: Glasgow-based fashion retailer reopens online business as staff receive PPE
“The group is currently investigating the reported allegations, which if found to be accurate are totally unacceptable.
“From our initial review, we believe that one of Quiz’s suppliers based in Leicester has used a sub-contractor in direct contravention of a previous instruction from Quiz. It is this sub-contractor that is subject of the National Living Wage complaint. Quiz has immediately suspended activity with the supplier in question pending further investigation.”
A spokesperson declined to say when Quiz had first ordered the sub-contractor to be dropped, adding that the company would not be releasing any additional information to its statement at this time. Tarak Ramzan, chief executive of Quiz, was quoted as saying that the company will update stakeholders “in due course”.
The news comes just a week after similar allegations sliced more than a third off the share price of rival Boohoo. Shares in AIM-listed Quiz, which took a sustained slide after a downbeat Christmas trading update in January, edged marginally higher yesterday to close at 6.77p.
READ MORE: Scottish fashion chain closes 11 stores with the loss of 93 jobs
Quiz said all of its suppliers must adhere to the group’s ethical code of practice, and those that fail to will be terminated. It monitors its supplier base through audits and site visits, and is “in the advanced stages” of appointing an independent third-party partner to provide more regular audits in the Leicester region, which has been under scrutiny for alleged poor working conditions at some sites.
In addition to taking immediate action on this specific incident, Quiz said the board of directors has also committed to a full review of the group’s current auditing processes to ensure they are robust enough to maintain on-going compliance with the company’s ethical code of practice.
“We are extremely concerned and disappointed to be informed of the alleged breach of National Living Wage requirements in a factory making Quiz products,” Mr Ramzan said. “The alleged breaches to both the law and Quiz’s ethical code of practice are totally unacceptable.
“We are thoroughly investigating this incident and will also conduct a fuller review of our supplier auditing processes to ensure that they are robust. We will update our stakeholders in due course.”
Retail giant Next, which sells Quiz clothing through its online channel, said it is also carrying out its own investigation “with full cooperation from the Quiz senior management team”.
READ MORE: Quiz disappoints City as Christmas sales fall
As of April, Quiz operated 82 stand-alone stores and 174 concessions through retailers such as Debenhams and House of Fraser. The physical outlets have been shuttered since March, and its online business was temporarily shut down at the end of March, but resumed trading in April.
In June, the group put its Kast Retail subsidiary into administration in a bid to offload loss-making outlets and reduce its rent payments. Kast was responsible for the 82 stand-alone Quiz store leases.
The group immediately bought back stock and other assets of Kast for £1.3 million, with the contracts of 822 employees transferred over. However, 11 stores were permanently closed by the administrators with the loss of 93 jobs.
Quiz is currently in discussions with landlords about the leases on the 71 remaining shops, which were not transferred over as part of the pre-pack administration. Three have re-opened so far, with lease negotiations continuing across the remainder.
“We continue to believe that stores, with appropriate property costs and flexible lease terms, can continue to be a relevant pillar in our omni-channel model and we will be seeking to re-open Quiz stores where we believe it is prudent and economic to do so,” Mr Ramzan said in June.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here