Kate Moss has recently shunned the limelight by stating, “I don’t see myself as a celebrity; I do my job.” However, a very lucrative part of her job involves minding the Kate Moss Topshop collection, which has found itself within a possible sweatshop controversy. The Times Online alleges that Phillip Green, one of England’s richest men, pays Asian factory workers £64 a month (12 hour days, six days a week) for the Kate Moss Topshop line:

Factories supplying Sir Philip Green, who is based in Monaco and is worth nearly £5 billion, employ hundreds of Sri Lankan, Indian and Bangladeshi workers in Mauritius where they labour for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Workers told The Sunday Times that they were recruited in their home countries by self-employed agents who promised wages up to five times what they receive. They pay up to £725 to get the job, equivalent to seven months’ earnings.

Once in Mauritius they receive as little as 22p to 40p an hour, about 40% below the local average wage. In at least one firm salaries are set according to race, with those from Bangladesh paid substantially less than Sri Lankans.

Phillip Green maintains that his inspectors had previously checked the working conditions of the factories in question, but he will look into the allegations. Kate Moss, as usual, has kept her mouth shut.