Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group has this afternoon confirmed it will in principle sign up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
Arcadia issued a statement noting that it had only received a copy of the accord at 8:50pm last night, claiming that any reports that the business had not responded this morning were “wholly unreasonable”.
It also noted that Arcadia had a “rigorous ethical trading programme” and highlighted that Topshop’s total orders from Bangladesh were “less than £25,000 to date this year”.
However the group, which owns Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge as well as Evans, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton, has agreed to sign the Accord “in order to show support for the initiative”
“This will be done on the condition that we understand the final costs to us, which to date has not been made clear,” the statement said. “As with any other commercial contract we sign, we reserve the right to review our participation if the Accord does not achieve its stated aims within an agreed timescale.”
Arcadia is one of several retailers to have signed the agreement, following the likes of Marks & Spencer, Primark, H&M and Tesco so far this week.
A deadline to sign up has been set for midnight tonight (May 15).
You might also like...
Protests to take place over Bangladesh factory disasters
Protests are taking place today across Europe, calling on fashion brands and retailers to pay compensations to the victims of the collapsed factory in Bangladesh.
Deadlock continues over Bangladesh safety accord
The fashion industry was inching closer to a historic agreement on fire and building safety for Bangladeshi suppliers on Wednesday, May 15.
Philip Green launches ‘review’ of Arcadia
Sir Philip Green has reportedly launched a review of Arcadia Group and hired advisers from Deloitte to explore a raft of store closures.
Pentland Brands poaches CFO from Selfridges
Pentland Brands has appointed Selfridges’ Katrina Nurse as its new chief finance officer.
Exclusive: Oasis to launch concessions in Sainsbury’s
Oasis is launching concessions in Sainsbury’s supermarket stores, Drapers can reveal.
Beyoncé buys Philip Green out of Ivy Park
Beyoncé has acquired 100% control over her Ivy Park activewear collection, after buying Sir Philip Green’s share of the business.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment
Please remember that the submission of any material is governed by our Terms and Conditions and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted.