“Wage theft continues to debilitate workers in Thailand as tariffs take hold”, 11 August 2025

The question of “Who pays?” is ringing louder than ever as global and local labor leaders gathered in Bangkok on Thursday to spotlight an alleged $7.6-million wage theft case. The dispute traces back to the 2020 shutdown of Body Fashion Limited, which ran two factories in Thailand. More than 900 garment workers were left without their legally mandated severance pay—an obligation confirmed by Thai courts. At the time, the ruling ordered $5.7 million in compensation, but the money never came. The factory’s owner, Malaysian tycoon Robert Ng, remains free and active in the industry.

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Other workers tell similar stories: decades of loyal service, suddenly erased. The factory, once owned by Triumph, was sold in 2016 and rebranded under Body Fashion. When it closed, the workers were left with nothing but promises.

For five years, their demand has been the same: hold the owner (and the European and U.S. brands that sourced from the factory) accountable, and pay what is owed.

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Thailand has seen this fight before. In 2022, after the closure of Brilliant Alliance Thailand, a coalition of unions and activists won an $8.3 million settlement from Victoria’s Secret—the largest severance theft settlement in garment industry history. That case, Welsh pointed out, was resolved only after intense pressure on brands.

The Body Fashion dispute comes at a politically sensitive time. Thailand is negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, where new due diligence laws are emerging to hold companies accountable for rights violations in their overseas supply chains. Thailand is also drafting its own mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law.

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Johnson Yeung of the Clean Clothes Campaign said one of Body Fashion’s biggest clients during the wage theft was Huber Holding, a top Austrian underwear company—also owned by Ng. Despite acknowledging the factory produced its goods, Huber denies responsibility. “Next and Marks & Spencer are still working with Ng. These brands must consider the human rights and reputational risks here,” Yeung said. The workers’ plight has been highlighted globally—at a Huber store protest in Austria earlier this year and a Victoria’s Secret protest in the Netherlands last year.

“Forty million dollars were stolen from workers during the pandemic,” Yeung added. “Brands must act now before a bigger crisis unfolds.”

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As steep new U.S. tariffs take effect this week, analysts warn that more factory closures, lost business, and wage theft cases could follow—unless the industry takes proactive steps. This case, they say, is a litmus test: whether brands will enforce their own codes of conduct, or allow workers once again to bear the brunt.