Beyonce’s clothing label Ivy Park used Sri Lankan workers paid less than 44p an hour in ‘sweatshop’ conditions, it has been claimed.

The sportswear brand, sold exclusively at TopShop, includes leggings sold at £100 and has had a huge marketing push with billboards on the side of buses showing black and white shots of Beyonce working out.

The Sun on Sunday reported Jakub Sobik of Anti-Slavery International said: ‘Companies like Topshop have a duty to find out if these things are happening.


Ivy Park was launched with the mission statement of ‘inspiring and supporting women’.

But the paper quoted a seamstress with MAS holdings who said: ‘When they talk about women and empowerment this is just for the foreigners. They want the foreigners to think everything is OK.’



In New Zealand new pet owners are getting paw-ternity leaveMAS Holdings, which produces the clothes at a factory in Katunayake, close to Colombo airport, employs around 74,000 workers, 70 per cent of them women.

If the claims are true, MAS would not be breaking any laws locally as the the poorest workers are still paid more than 13,500 (around £64) a month – the legal minimum.

But campaigners say the minimum wage should rise to 43,000 rupees, which would be £205 a month.

The collection went on sale at TopShop last month (Picture: Getty)

A 22-year-old sewing machine operator told the Sun her 18,500 rupee (£87.26) monthly salary is not enough to survive on. She works shifts of almost ten hours Monday to Friday with just a half hour lunchbreak and also works overtime and on Saturdays.

Was it right for the NHS to sterilise this healthy woman?She and her sister share a room in a boarding house and said: ‘We have to share the shower block with the men so there isn’t much privacy. It is shocking and many of the women are very scared.’

A Topshop spokesperson told the Sun: ‘Ivy Park has a rigorous ethical trading programme.

‘We are proud of our sustained efforts in terms of factory inspections and audits, and our teams work very closely with our suppliers and their factories to ensure compliance.’