SRI LANKA SWEATSHOP ‘SLAVES’ EARNING £4.30 A DAY MAKING ‘EMPOWERING’ BEYONCE CLOBBER
BEYONCE’S new high street sportswear range for Topshop is made using sweat shop labour earning just £4.30 a day, we can reveal.The revelation heaps more pressure on under-fire fashion tycoon Sir Philip Green, who faces a grilling from MPs about his role in the collapse of BHS.
The star . . . Beyonce shows off leotard from her range Ivy Park-The worker . . . machinist we spoke to said there was little opportunity to escape poverty The worker . . . machinist we spoke to said there was little opportunity to escape poverty
The glitzy launch . . . fans at Topshop hoping to buy a Beyonce garment News Group Newspapers Ltd--The woman we spoke to lives in a cramped guesthouse Kevin Dunnett
16/05/2016
The chain’s demise put 11,000 jobs at risk and left a £570million pensions black hole.Beyonce says she wants her Ivy Park gym gear to support and inspire women — while Topshop claims it “empowers women through sport”.
But poverty-stricken seamstresses making some of the clothes in the MAS Holdings factory in Sri Lanka earn just £4.30 a day.
It would cost them more than a month’s wages to buy a pair of Beyonce’s £100 leggings.
The workers, mostly young women from poor rural villages, can only afford to live in boarding houses and work more than 60 hours a week to make ends meet.
Most are reluctant to speak out for fear of losing their jobs.
Campaigners insist the women are being exploited and treated like slaves.
