Children of 11 work in fake jeans factory

CHILDREN as young as 11 were found working in a backstreet factory making fake designer jeans, trading standards officers said yesterday, writes Jonathan Foster.

The youngsters were part of what is believed to be a multimillion pound operation producing counterfeit Giorgio Armani and Paul Smith designs, which can sell for up to pounds 80 a pair.

The operation was discovered in raids on two units in an old mill at Preston, Lancashire, last weekend. Clothing worth an estimated pounds 500,000 was seized. Jim Potts, a Lancashire trading standards officer, said at least six children aged between 11 and 14 were found at the factory.

Local authorities and the Child Poverty Action Group have discoverd 'almost endemic' employment of children in textile and hosiery mills, many making counterfeit designer products. They work long hours, often at night. Most were untrained and investigators regularly encountered cases of youngsters aged between 12 and 15 operating large and potentially dangerous machinery.

'Ethically and morally, one would question the use of children in what is clearly an illegal counterfeit operation, quite apart from the law covering the use of children in this sort of work,' Mr Potts said. 'When our officers arrived, the adults seemed to be spirited away, and they were left with these innocents.'

The authority's education welfare department is to investigate, and may prosecute the factory's owners.