Khaisilk closes Ho Chi Minh City stores as ‘Made-in-China’ scandal widens
Saturday, October 28, 2017, 09:59 GMT+7
Two Khaisilk outlets in Ho Chi Minh City were shut down on Friday, the latest development in the mislabeling scandal that left the reputation of Vietnam’s popular silk brand in tatters.
The Khaisilk store inside the Lotte Legend Hotel in District 1, and the outlet on Dong Khoi Street, known as the company’s headquarters, were found with doors closed in the afternoon, amid the ‘Made-in-China’ scandal of the Khaisilk scarves.
Khaisilk is making national headliners after its owner, Hoang Khai, confessed earlier this week that 50 percent of his scarf stock, marketed as being made from Vietnamese silk by Vietnamese craft villages, is in fact sourced from China.
The confession came after one customer found one Khaisilk scarf bearing both the ‘Made in China’ and ‘Made in Vietnam’ labels and filed an official complaint to the company. The case was also reported and eventually went viral on social media.
Khaisilk Hanoi Main Store on Hang Gai Street, where the scarf in question was purchased, has also been closed after a market surveillance team checked the establishment and temporarily confiscated more than 50 products, including not only scarves but also ties and wallets, for investigation on Thursday.
Real estate tycoon Hoang Khai, chairman of Khaisilk Group, has made no further official comment since his confession of sourcing Chinese products for sale under ‘Made in Vietnam’ labels on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has requested a probe into the company’s product origins, whereas the General Department of Taxation on Friday also demanded an investigation into the taxpaying activities of Khaisilk.
Hoang Khai has also withdrawn from the Shark Tank Vietnam reality show to focus on resolving the crisis.
Shark Tank Vietnam is the Vietnamese localized version of the eponymous franchise of the international format Dragons' Den which originated in Japan in 2001.
The shows aspiring entrepreneur-contestants as they make business presentations to a panel of ‘shark’ investors, who then choose whether to invest.
The Khaisilk chairman has been invited to be one of the ‘sharks’ for the show and has asked to withdraw from the post, according to an official announcement of Shark Tank Vietnam late Friday.
The show has finished filming and is expected to be screened on national broadcaster VTV. It is not clear if the program will be edited following the Khaisilk scandal.
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Chinese scarves in disguise Vietnamese Facebook user Dang Nhu Quynh said in a status update on October 23 that a company had placed an order of 60 Vietnamese silk scarves, costing VND644,000 ($28) each, from the Khaisilk Hanoi Main Store on Hang Gai Street. Upon delivery, the buyer discovered that one of them had both ‘Made in China’ and ‘Made in Vietnam’ labels, while the other 59 scarves showed signs of having a ‘Made-in-China’ label carelessly removed and a ‘Made-in-Vietnam’ label added. A company representative later defended that all 60 scarves were made from “100 percent silk,” and that the only scarf in question belonged to another order, in which the buyer insisted it be labeled ‘Made in China.’ |
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