Leisure Clothing shuttered, assets up for sale by UK firm

The assets of the Chinese-owned clothing factory Leisure Clothing in Malta are to be sold by private treaty by UK valuer and asset disposal firm Eddisons.

The manufacturing section of Leisure Clothing, a company at the heart of human trafficking allegations against its directors, has now closed its doors.

In 2015 managing director Han Bin, from San Gwann, and marketing director Jia Liu, from Birzebbuga, were charged with human trafficking and breaching a number of employment violations over the conditions endured by Vietnamese and Chinese workers.

Workers at the factory testified that they had only received some €150 every two months. Roughly 260 workers were placed in accommodation at the Hal Far barracks, who brought to light the allegedly unhealthy and illegal working conditions they were made to endure.

The company was set up by the Chongqing municipality in China, and for decades also employed North Korean workers, allegedly forcibly employed on orders of hermetic dictatorship.

Leisure Clothing, which manufactured women’s clothing in Zejtun for a range of high-end high street brands including Emporio Armani, Jaeger, Hobbs and Karen Millen, produced 20,000 garments a month at its Maltese factory and had a turnover of €5 million.

Its Chinese parent company, Chong Qing-based CICET, has ended production at the facility after almost 30 years of operation. 

Assets at the Leisure Clothing production plant include hundreds of industrial sewing machines, pressing equipment, CNC laying out tables as well as over 5,000 ladies garments, raw material and a fleet of eight vehicles.

Jason Pinder, Eddisons director of machinery and business assets, said: “Leisure Clothing was a long-established supplier to some of the most prestigious names in fashion and as such all the garment making equipment which we are putting up for sale is of extremely high quality. We are looking for a purchaser for the entire collection or significant parts of it.”