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Kate's dazzling dress is made in Romanian 'sweatshop' by women on just 99p an hour
Costing 175 on the high street, it helped the Duchess of Cambridge outshine the First Lady.
But the Reiss dress that made such an impression when the pair met this week was manufactured by women paid only 99p an hour in a poor suburb of the Romanian capital, the Daily Mail has discovered.
The camel-coloured ‘Shola’ design was produced for less than 15 by seamstresses earning significantly less than the average salary for textile workers in the Eastern European nation.
British fashion chain Reiss is one of the Duchess’s favourite brands. After she wore the dress to meet Barack and Michelle Obama, demand for it surged, causing the company’s website to crash and the dress to sell out within 24 hours.
It has been advertised for 600 on eBay and a 30 copy is being prepared by Tesco.Yesterday Reiss announced that the dress will be re-released in five to six weeks.
But that glamour is a far cry from the bleak working conditions of those who made it in Bucharest.
The 170 employees of clothing firm Rimcor Ex work in a factory which resembles an industrial compound, with bars on the windows, 8ft walls and solid metal fences around the periphery.
It is a block away from a high-rise Romany gipsy commune which last year became home to one of the world’s youngest mothers, apparently aged ten when she became pregnant with her cousin’s baby.
This week the Mail witnessed a half-naked child of about six picking his way through mounds of rotting food, and a dead kitten in pools of stagnant water nearby.
Locals said toddlers scavenged for food and their parents found scraps to sell, before returning to makeshift shelters.
One dressmaker said the typical 168-a-month salary for workers at the factory was above the country’s minimum wage.
But according to the nation’s National Institute for Statistics, it is 22 a month below the average net salary for the clothing industry in Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007.
Another worker, 44-year-old Juliana Haita, described conditions as ‘good’ and added: ‘This is normal for me. I’m used to it.’ But she said the workshop overheated in summer, when temperatures top 86f (30c). When that happens, workers are allowed an extra half-hour break.
Mrs Haita has repeated the same menial tasks on garment after garment each day for the past 15 years.
There is no suggestion that working conditions at Rimcor Ex are below-par for the former communist nation. But while the sweatshops of Bangladesh and India were now carefully avoided by ethical firms, textile manufacturing has shifted to Eastern Europe, experts said.
Many of the women who filed out of the factory gates this week barely knew who Prince William’s wife was, let alone that they were behind her outfit.
On being shown a picture of Kate alongside Mrs Obama at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, Mrs Haita said: ‘It’s really nice that a small thing that I do here gets into a ballroom somewhere in the world.’
The Shola is estimated to have cost under 15 to make, but the mark-up – including materials, shipping and marketing – gives it a price tag of 175.
The factory’s owner, Ioan Palea, 59, said last night: ‘This was a normal production for the spring season.
‘I had an inspection from the Work Ministry on Monday and Tuesday and they said everything was okay.’
But Greg Muttitt, of anti-poverty charity War on Want, said yesterday: ‘Kate Middleton has made a point of supporting British fashion – sadly, it appears, at the expense of overseas workers.
‘If Kate really wants to back UK fashion, she ought to check that the people who make her clothes earn a living wage. And the Government must introduce regulation to stop UK retailers exploiting workers abroad.’
Sharan Burrow, of the International Trade Union Confederation, added: ‘Foreign companies buying from Romania should help make sure that the people who make the products get a fair deal.’
Reiss was founded in London 40 years ago by entrepreneur David Reiss, 67, who is now worth 125million. While other British stores have sold off parts of the company to foreign investors, Reiss is one of a dying breed of High Street fashion chains that can still claim to be 100 per cent British-owned.
Costing 175 on the high street, it helped the Duchess of Cambridge outshine the First Lady.
But the Reiss dress that made such an impression when the pair met this week was manufactured by women paid only 99p an hour in a poor suburb of the Romanian capital, the Daily Mail has discovered.
The camel-coloured ‘Shola’ design was produced for less than 15 by seamstresses earning significantly less than the average salary for textile workers in the Eastern European nation.
British fashion chain Reiss is one of the Duchess’s favourite brands. After she wore the dress to meet Barack and Michelle Obama, demand for it surged, causing the company’s website to crash and the dress to sell out within 24 hours.
It has been advertised for 600 on eBay and a 30 copy is being prepared by Tesco.Yesterday Reiss announced that the dress will be re-released in five to six weeks.
But that glamour is a far cry from the bleak working conditions of those who made it in Bucharest.
The 170 employees of clothing firm Rimcor Ex work in a factory which resembles an industrial compound, with bars on the windows, 8ft walls and solid metal fences around the periphery.
It is a block away from a high-rise Romany gipsy commune which last year became home to one of the world’s youngest mothers, apparently aged ten when she became pregnant with her cousin’s baby.
This week the Mail witnessed a half-naked child of about six picking his way through mounds of rotting food, and a dead kitten in pools of stagnant water nearby.
Locals said toddlers scavenged for food and their parents found scraps to sell, before returning to makeshift shelters.
One dressmaker said the typical 168-a-month salary for workers at the factory was above the country’s minimum wage.
But according to the nation’s National Institute for Statistics, it is 22 a month below the average net salary for the clothing industry in Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007.
Another worker, 44-year-old Juliana Haita, described conditions as ‘good’ and added: ‘This is normal for me. I’m used to it.’ But she said the workshop overheated in summer, when temperatures top 86f (30c). When that happens, workers are allowed an extra half-hour break.
Mrs Haita has repeated the same menial tasks on garment after garment each day for the past 15 years.
There is no suggestion that working conditions at Rimcor Ex are below-par for the former communist nation. But while the sweatshops of Bangladesh and India were now carefully avoided by ethical firms, textile manufacturing has shifted to Eastern Europe, experts said.
Many of the women who filed out of the factory gates this week barely knew who Prince William’s wife was, let alone that they were behind her outfit.
On being shown a picture of Kate alongside Mrs Obama at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, Mrs Haita said: ‘It’s really nice that a small thing that I do here gets into a ballroom somewhere in the world.’
The Shola is estimated to have cost under 15 to make, but the mark-up – including materials, shipping and marketing – gives it a price tag of 175.
The factory’s owner, Ioan Palea, 59, said last night: ‘This was a normal production for the spring season.
‘I had an inspection from the Work Ministry on Monday and Tuesday and they said everything was okay.’
But Greg Muttitt, of anti-poverty charity War on Want, said yesterday: ‘Kate Middleton has made a point of supporting British fashion – sadly, it appears, at the expense of overseas workers.
‘If Kate really wants to back UK fashion, she ought to check that the people who make her clothes earn a living wage. And the Government must introduce regulation to stop UK retailers exploiting workers abroad.’
Sharan Burrow, of the International Trade Union Confederation, added: ‘Foreign companies buying from Romania should help make sure that the people who make the products get a fair deal.’
Reiss was founded in London 40 years ago by entrepreneur David Reiss, 67, who is now worth 125million. While other British stores have sold off parts of the company to foreign investors, Reiss is one of a dying breed of High Street fashion chains that can still claim to be 100 per cent British-owned.
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