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Textile workers in Istanbul say they have not received payments from British luxury fashion house Safiyaa, whose designs are worn by members of the British Royal Family and international celebrities.
The workers have appealed to the Royal Family for assistance in recovering wages they claim are owed to them, according to Patronlar Dunyasi, a business-focused Turkish news site.
The London-based fashion house, founded by Daniela Karnuts in 2011, creates garments for high-profile clients, including the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
According to reports in the British Daily Mail, approximately 50 cutters and machinists working for a supplier factory in Istanbul claim they are owed unpaid wages and severance pay dating back up to three months after their studio closed abruptly in April.
Reports claim that 14 workers have not received payments ranging between £2,600 and £9,000. Former employees have accused the company, which sells dresses priced up to £5,000 each, of leaving them unemployed and causing financial hardship for their families.
Kadir Ates, 43, who cut the fabric for the gown worn by former Conservative Party cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, told the Daily Mail that workers want to stand up for their rights and justice.
"We want the Royal Family in Britain to know what happened to us," he said. "Maybe they can do something to help us. We won't let this go until the end. We just want what we deserve, nothing more. We feel we have been treated unfairly."
Karnuts, 42, sells her dresses through a private showroom in Mayfair. Workers say she initially had all her garments made in a second-floor workshop on a back street in Istanbul, visiting the factory three or four times a year.
Ates, who began cutting fabric for Safiyaa in 2017, said staff previously received their salaries on time and earned relatively generous wages of approximately ₺50,000 or ₺880 per month.
However, workers claim problems began in 2019 when the workshop's operations were taken over by Atelier Nouveau Tekstil Ltd.
The workers allege the factory was managed by Jalil Teja, whom they identify as the nephew of Karnuts' husband, cryptocurrency investor Akbar Shamji.
According to the Daily Mail report, Ates said he was promised a payment of 456,000 lira (£8,000) within two months, covering one and a half months of unpaid salary, holiday pay and severance compensation, but received nothing.
The fashion house has dressed numerous high-profile figures beyond the British Royal Family, including Jennifer Lopez, former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, Hollywood producers Natasha Rothwell and Regina King, and prominent Chinese actress Yao Chen. Safiyaa operates workshops in London, New York, and Istanbul.
The workers' appeal directly to the Royal Family represents an unusual strategy in their effort to recover the wages they claim are owed.
Their work included creating garments for some of the most photographed events in recent British history, including the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
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