Collapse Of Missguided Leaves Workers In Pakistan 'Starving'

Hundreds of garment workers in Pakistan who make clothing for the collapsed fast fashion brand Missguided say they have been left destitute and starving after not having received salaries for more than four months.

- Shah Meer Baloch

The workers, who typically earn between £100 and £160 a month, say that despite not being paid they continued working even as the Manchester-based retailer went into administration, with suppliers claiming the company owes them millions of pounds for clothing already completed and shipped.

In Faisalabad, one of Pakistan's textile heartlands, workers at the Bismillah factory have been exclusively making clothes for Missguided since 2017.

Amna Rani, 21, the sole earner for her extended family, said she had not received a salary since January and had been reduced to begging her neighbours for bread to feed her younger brothers and sisters.

"Now no one is even giving us any loan to buy food," she said. "My landlord is asking us to pay or leave the house. How can I pay him without getting my salary?

"My father was admitted to hospital and I don't have a penny to pay for his hospital bills."

Rani said that last week, after months of working without pay, she was fired along with hundreds of her co-workers when they were told by factory management that Missguided had not paid its invoices.

Inside the Bismillah factory, mountains of boxes of Missguided clothing sit abandoned.