Leisure Clothing, a Bulebel-based apparel factory, has shut down after been found involved in a major human trafficking and worker exploitation scandal. The assets of the factory have been now put up for sale.
The factory, which had been in business for almost 30 years, used to manufacture women’s apparels for a wide range of high-end high street fashion brands that included Emporio Armani, Hobbs, Jaeger and Karen Millen.
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UK-based Eddisons has been now assigned the task of selling off the factory’s assets. The assets include many industrial sewing machines, pressing equipment, CNC laying out tables in addition to over 5,000 ladies garments, raw materials and a fleet of 8 vehicles. Jason Pinder, Director of Machinery and Business Assets, Eddisons remarked that the equipment up for sale was of “extremely high quality” and that the company was “looking for a purchaser for the entire collection or significant parts of it”.
In 2014, Leisure Clothing had made headlines for all the wrong reasons after police raided the factory and accused its director of having exploited hundreds of workers. During a magisterial inquiry, Chinese and Vietnamese workers substantiated the allegation by saying that they had been fed “inedible” food and were coaxed into coming to Malta with the promise of high wages. It was also heard that while employees were reportedly paid € 70 a month for six 14-hour days per week, Managing Director Han Bin received a performance bonus of € 30,000 a year.
