In all probability, this is a classic case of a single-sided accusation, trial, conviction and punishment. And all of them impromptu. 

Here’s how it goes: international online fashion retailer Asos withdraws a batch of metal-studded belts from sale after they are found to be radioactive. The company, with stores in most major cities of the world, says an internal inquiry (the report of which is fascinatingly called ‘Project Purple Flower’) found that the leather belts could cause injury to the wearer if worn for more than 500 hours. As a result, they are being held in a radioactive storage facility after testing positive for Cobalt-60.

The report, seen only by The Guardian, says one of the brass-studded belts was pulled by US border control and tested positive. Project Purple Flower confirms that the majority of the 801 brass studs in the belts were contaminated. However, Asos uses several different belt suppliers.

It leads to a worldwide recall of the items, with 49 sold across 14 countries, but it is not known how many have been returned.

The belts are said to have been supplied by Haq International, produced at their Royal Ascot Company factory in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Project Purple Flower relies on coarse generalization, rather than evidence, to get to the bottom of the matter. The report says, “Unfortunately this incident is quite a common occurrence. India and the Far East are large consumers of scrap metal for their home and foreign markets. During the refining process of these metals, orphaned radioactive sources are sometimes accidentally melted at the same time. This in turn [contaminates the process] and traps the radioactivity in the metal as an alloy or in suspension.”

Asos is demanding £100,000 from the supplier in recall charges and has withheld £64,000 owed to the businessman, who has had to cancel orders with Miss Selfridge, a nationwide UK high street store, and shut his factory, leaving 18 Indian workers without jobs. The owner claims he has also had to sell his car to hire his own lawyers.

The supplier of the belts, Haq International, has been given a better trial in the UK media. The Telegraph reports, “Paperwork on the belts linked them to Haq International, an Indian group, but there is some uncertainty over whether they were indeed the supplier. If the group did make the belts, they are likely to have bought in the studs from elsewhere.”

The Guardian writes, “Documents seen by the Guardian show that the belts Asos claims are contaminated do not match the description of the belts supplied by Haq, or any of the 30 products supplied by the firm.

“The belts being held as a result of Project Purple Flower have 801 metal studs and weigh 316g, while the peplum belts Haq supplied, which come in four sizes, contain a maximum of 750 brass studs, with the smallest size weighing 370g.”

Independent tests by the Health Protection Agency at Haq’s London warehouse found there was no radiation from any of the belts and metal stored there. In Kanpur, the company’s owner, Mohammed Shuja, says that following a complaint by Asos, Britain's atomic energy agency had asked India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to visit the Kanpur workshop and conduct tests. The team that had come in February this year had, however, found no traces of any radioactive matter at either the Royal Ascot workshop or in its products, Shuja claims.

“We were given a clean chit by AERB officials and the report was sent to British authorities who did not respond to it,” he says.

Asos has since offered to pay him £24,000 of the £64,000 he is owed, but he has still not been able to see the belts since the issue was first raised in a meeting with senior Asos buyers in December last year.

In Kanpur, a major hub of India’s $ 5-billion leather export, there is concern among exporters following the incident. Like Shuja, who admits that following the controversy several other firms that had placed orders with his company turned away, many fear it might impact their business.

India is a major leather exporter to developed nations, with China being its main rival. The major markets for leather and its products are the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. Besides, there is a good demand for leather products in emerging markets like China, Japan, Africa and Latin America.
According to data provided by the Council for Leather Exports, India’s exports jumped 11.6 percent to $ 367 million in the first month of the current fiscal, compared to the same period previous year. This is mainly on account of rising demand from western markets like the US and EU, the council noted.

In April 2012, these exports stood at $ 328 million. During times of such an export boom, when things are looking up, an incident involving an international fashion major — though relying more on arbitrariness and lack of reason than evidence — could tip the scales heavily against India’s leather exporters.