The proposed manufacturing-and-office space will employ about 95 people, a Boohoo spokesperson said. The initiative is part of the fast fashion company’s efforts to address allegations of forced labour and poor working conditions among its suppliers in the English city that surfaced last summer.

Boohoo’s proposals to to Leicester City Council involve converting a former car showroom into a space that will also offer educational training programmes for staff and suppliers.

Leicester’s garment industry, where Boohoo is a prominent client, has come under increased scrutiny over the course of the pandemic after claims that poor labour practices helped create a resurgence in coronavirus cases that led to a city-wide second lockdown in the summer of 2020.