SYDNEY: High-end womenswear designer Lisa Ho has reacted angrily to allegations she mistreats her workers.
The claims, made in weekend newspapers by TCF lobby group Fairwear, suggest that despite concerns relating to her brand the 25-year industry veteran has yet to be accredited to the Homeworkers Code of Practice.
Fairwear, which has urged consumers to boycott all brands who fail to sign up to the code aimed at protecting textile, clothing and footwear workers from poor pay and sweatshop conditions, said it had spent months writing to the designer about its concerns. But, to date, all correspondence had been ignored.
For her part, Ho has denied receiving the letters.
In a statement Ho said she had spent the past six months working with Australian Business Limited and the Australian Retailers Association in an attempt to compile the required information.
She said it had been a "lengthy and involved process" that had included sourcing statutory declarations from outside makers and that if Fairwear was to supply her company with any evidence of unfair working conditions, she would immediately investigate the matter.
It is understood Ho is one of four brands being targeted by the Fairwear campaign.
PIC: Wendell Teodoro.