The Duchess of Cambridge has come under fire for wearing a dress made in a Romanian sweatshop.

Costing £175 ($350) on Britain's high street, it helped the Duchess outshine America's First Lady at Buckingham Palace last week.

But the dress that made such an impression was produced by women in Bucharest paid only $2 an hour - less in a month than the dress sells for,

The camel-coloured Reiss "Shola" design was made for less than $30.

After the Duchess wore the dress to meet Barack and Michelle Obama, demand for it surged, causing the company's website to crash and the dress to sell out within 24 hours.

News.com yesterday reported on the bleak working conditions of those who made the dress, although the staff said they were paid more than the minimum wage and were happy.

Greg Muttitt, of anti-poverty charity War on Want, said: "Kate Middleton has made a point of supporting British fashion - sadly, it appears, at the expense of overseas workers."

- NZ HERALD STAFF