FEL CEO on Sky TV: PPE and a Major Political Blunder

Back in January 2023, Fashion-Enter Ltd’s CEO Jenny Holloway was appalled to hear about the PPE scandal; MedPro had been awarded a £203m contract, thanks to a recommendation from Baroness Mone, with a bulk from this production ending up in landfill.

At the height of the PPE shortage many UK manufacturers, such as Fashion-Enter Ltd, were bending over backwards to support the PPE effort. Staff continued to come in to work, masked-up and PPE took over the lines fulfilling two contracts and then the orders stopped.

Move forward two-years later and the media have now exposed the Conservative peer and Ultimo bra tycoon has previously conceded she made an “error” in publicly denying her links to MedPro, which was awarded huge contracts during the pandemic and is being investigated by the National Crime Agency.

On 17th December 2023, the PPE scandal was the top story on Sky News and Baroness Mone now admits she stands to benefit, £60m profit, from the contract. Jenny was interviewed for TV and print, she told Sky News:

Fashion-Enter, were “ready for action” when the call came, turning their business from one producing fashion garments to focusing on PPE.

But the company was only issued with two contracts for 20,000 gowns, and ended up making 35 people redundant while PPE MedPro were making profits.

Jenny said: “To read that PPE MedPro had a £203m contract and so much went into landfill…how can that happen?

“How can that happen that you have got garment manufacturers here in the UK that bent over backwards, that undertook innovative new product development that would have saved the money, and we were just ignored?

“I think about the staff I have lost. Just 10% of that contract, £2m of that £203m, if we had just had that, just one of those women would have been put into redundancy. It’s a disgrace.”

“This is greed, it is selfishness, it is unacceptable, and surely those profits should have to go back into the NHS.”

Jenny added on her Linked In post: “I’m utterly embarrassed and appalled by our Government and their policy of jobs for their inner circle!”

To view the Sky News interview tap here.

Jenny has also voiced her opinion on this issue via Linked-In and the response has been tremendous:

‘When we were in desperate need of PPE why were we shipping from China? with longer lead times and shipping time. Its so crazy. I really hope there is some recourse about this and a public apology from the PM himself as its unacceptable on so many levels. I feel so angry for you and the other factories that have suffered from this situation whilst certain people making decisions and recommendations have lined their own pockets !’ – Sharon Finch

‘100% agree with everything you are saying here Jennifer. I remember contacting everyone I knew trying to help my brother at the beginning of the pandemic and his team in A&E who urgently need PPE. At one point they nearly had to wear anoraks backwards as they ran out of gowns. People need to be prosecuted for this and new laws need to be put in place so it doesn’t happen again. It’s just so disgusting and heartbreaking.’ – Christine Fallon