Kate’s £175 dress made in a 99p an hr shop’

he 175-pound Reiss dress that Kate Middleton wore during her meet with US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, has been made by women, paid only 99p an hour in a ‘sweat shop’ in Romanian capital Bucharest.

The women manufactured the camel-coloured ‘Shola’ design only for 15 pounds, earning significantly less than the average salary for textile workers in the Eastern European nation.

British fashion chain Reiss has been one of the Duchess’ favourite brands. After she wore the dress to meet Barack and Michelle Obama, the demand for it soared, bringing the company’s website crashing down and the dress getting sold out within 24 hours, reports the Daily Mail.

But the glamour is a far cry from the gloomy working conditions of the 170 workers, who made it for clothing firm Rimcor Ex.

According to a dressmaker, the typical 168-pound-a-month salary for workers at the factory was above the country’s minimum wage.

But according to the nation’s National Institute for Statistics, it is 22-pound-a-month below the average net salary for the clothing industry in Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007.