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.
Related Stories
“I didn’t get any severance. I didn’t even get my last month and a half of wages. I left with nothing—worse than nothing,” said former Body Fashion worker Prasit Koedphithak, 48, who spent 22 years at the company and is owed 711,541 Thai baht ($21,915). “Since I was laid off, I haven’t been able to find work. I had to borrow, and I was left with debt. I don’t see a future for myself anymore.”
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.
Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a veteran advisor to Thai trade unions, told Sourcing Journal that the court order was clear, but enforcement has failed. “The payments must be made, yet arrests of the company’s listed directors have gone nowhere,” he said. Triumph International (Thailand) Co. Ltd. sold the factories to Body Fashion as part of a global restructuring to focus on marketing and sales, but that move left workers with few protections when things went wrong.
Dave Welsh, Thailand country director for the Solidarity Center, was blunt: “Two factories closed without paying a single baht in severance to anyone—many had worked there more than a decade. Brands with long ties to the factory, namely Victoria’s Secret and Triumph International, earned huge profits off poor, mostly women Thai workers. They can’t hide behind legally flimsy claims that they bear no responsibility. Primary responsibility lies with Robert Ng, who continues to make millions in the global apparel industry while ignoring the law.”
Welsh called for all brands tied to the factory—including Triumph, Victoria’s Secret, and Lane Bryant—to face pressure over their role.
Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), said this case stands out because the usual excuses don’t apply. “In most cases, when factories close without paying severance, the owner is bankrupt, missing, or out of the industry. None of that is true here. Ng is wealthy, with a vast business network spanning hundreds of corporations. He’s very much present, hiding in plain sight.”
Nova noted that major retailers including Amazon, Nordstrom, Marks & Spencer, Next, and JCPenney still source from Ng’s operations, which include factories in China, Sri Lanka, and Hungary. “The value of those relationships far exceeds the money he refuses to pay. Whether these brands choose to hold him accountable will decide whether workers get justice,” he said.
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.
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.”
For campaigners, the principle at stake is clear. “It is appalling that neither Huber’s management nor its supervisory board are taking responsibility, nor holding Robert Ng to account,” said Gertrude Klaffenböck of the Austrian Clean Clothes Campaign at Südwind.
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.
