Middletons investigate claims party pieces are made by workers on 10 pence an hour A spokesman for the company said that as a responsible retailer, it took the allegations "very seriously and we will work with our suppliers to carry out investigations into these claims." Party Pieces was founded in 1987 by Carole Middleton, after she gave up work as a British Airways stewardess. She built up the firm with her husband, Michael, and it now employs more than 30 people, including their daughter Pippa. Families in Mexico who work in their own homes are not subject to minimum wage laws, which would require pay of at least 49 pence an hour. Earnings are further reduced because they pay for the craft materials themselves. The operation in Tijuana is run by Javier Perez Quintero, who said he is an Amscan executive and uses the company's email address - but the hundreds of craftsmen and women are supplied with materials by a firm he runs, called Baja Pacific Paper. It is not clear whether this is an Amscan subsidiary or an independent company. Maria Villegas, who lives with eight family members in Tijuana, said she and relatives worked for 12 hours a day last week to make pinata rockets, receiving less than 19 pence an hour between them. While the Middletons' firm sells their pinatas for £12.99 each, other workers in the same city said they earn as little as 10p an hour for producing some of the items. The craft workers said they took the work because there was little else available. There have been increasing concerns in recent years that complex supply chains mean that customers do not know where the the products they buy come from. In 2011 police files disclosed that Swedish retail giant Ikea had used political prisioners in East Germany as "slave labour" to make furniture. Many of the items sold by Party Pieces were supplied by the giant American party goods company Amscan, which also produces goods made cheaply in China. The pinatas are also sold to other British firms, including supermarkets such as Tesco, and arrive via the American company's depot in Milton Keynes. Joseph Zepf, Amscan vice-president, said the company "endeavours to comply with all laws and regulations, especially those relating to wage requirements and working conditions, and categorically denies any inference or allegation to the contrary." In its annual report in 2011, the company acknowledged that many of its products were made outside America, "which may increase the risk that the labour, manufacturing, safety and other practices followed by the manufacturers of these products may differ from those generally accepted in the U.S."