Renowned clothing brand Khaadi has issued a clarification regarding a social media campaign against the brand.

The brand which was under fire for allegedly mistreating and firing its workers was facing a boycott campaign on social media after rumours one of its workers attempted suicide after being fired.

In a statement, the brand categorically confirmed hat it has not terminated 32 of its employees and the story regarding apparent attempted suicide of a young female worker is baseless.

“We categorically confirm that Khaadi has NOT terminated 32 of its employees. Another malicious story being spread and linked to the above is of the apparent attempted suicide of a young female worker. Why anyone should spread this outright lie is beyond understanding, but this just goes to show how some vested interests will stop at nothing to premeditatedly plan to try and cause reputational harm to Khaadi,” said the statement issued by the brand.

The statement adds: “The 32 persons in question were employed by the vendor at different times, as temporary labour / daily wage workers, paid on a weekly basis, based on the number of hours worked, and they were neither permanent employees of the vendor, nor were they contract employees engaged by the vendor. Some weeks ago, and at the instigation of external vested interests, these 32 temporary workers started an agitation and eventually filed a petition in the Karachi Branch of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC). That petition was dismissed by the NIRC on May 18, 2017.”

“Khaadi and its vendor take every care to ensure that all applicable laws are abided by, that all employees are well looked after, and that the highest possible care is taken to ensure quality of all products. However as with any fast-growing business, there is always room for improvement. The important thing is that we are open to constructive criticism should we be found wanting in any respect, and we fully appreciate that our future growth is deeply dependent on our readiness to bring about improvement and to better ourselves wherever there is a gap,” the statement added.

The brand also appealed to all social media users not to share or spread news that is pure hearsay, or base your comments on speculative news, no matter shared by who, without fully knowing the facts yourself.

A number of social media activists started calling for boycott of Khaadi after video of protest by people claiming to be workers of the brand went viral on social media.

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