Ivy Park Denies Sweatshop Allegations

It appears that everybody’s favourite diva, Beyoncé herself, has been in a bit of hot water after the launch of her latest clothing range ‘Ivy Park’.

The popstar’s new activewear collection launched only a month ago, but is already under fire with some very nasty allegations. The sportswear brand, which became a social media sensation as soon as it launched, is owned as a 50/50 partnership between Queen B and Sir Philip Green, the billionaire owner of high-street favourite Topshop.

Despite getting off to a sensational start, with a number of items selling out almost instantly and the launch crashing both Topshop and Twitter, Ivy Park has come under heavy allegations of the use of sweatshops and the exploitation of workers. The accusations were made by none other than the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun, who last week revealed their investigation which suggested that workers producing the “athleisure” line earned only 44p an hour, which is £4.30 a day!

The Sun also claimed that despite the brand claiming that it wanted to “empower women through sport”, most of the people producing the items were poor women from rural villages in Sri Lanka who were being forced to work more than 60 hours a week and did not want to speak out against the exploitation out of fear of losing their jobs.

Ivy Park released a statement on Monday to address the allegations. They commented: “Ivy Park has a rigorous ethical trading program. We are proud of our sustained efforts in terms of factory inspections and audits, and our teams worldwide work very closely with our suppliers and their factories to ensure compliance.”