US retailer Kohl's cancelled $50m BD orders before big dividends: Report

Kohl’s, one of the largest US clothing retailers, cancelled clothing orders worth $50 million from apparel factories in Bangladesh in March, according to a The Guardian report run by bdnews24.com on Thursday.

The cancellation came on March 22 just before it paid out $109 million in dividends to shareholders on April 1.

In addition to Bangladesh, the company had cancelled orders worth approximately $100 million from South Korean factories.

Factory owners of both countries claimed that the US firm had acted unilaterally without consulting or negotiating with suppliers, The Guardian said.

According to the Bangladesh garment exporters’ lobbying group BGMEA, up to 500,000 workers could lose their jobs in June if commitments to pay for ordered stock that was in production when the epidemic struck are not honoured, the newspaper said.

“Brands like Kohl’s say they care about workers, and use their big name to talk about ethical sourcing. But it is a lie,” The Guardian quoted Kalpona Akter, the founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, as saying.