Popular women clothing brand Seven.AM has closed its stores in Hanoi after authorities seized thousands of products for investigations into their allegedly replacing made-in-China labels with Vietnamese alternatives.
As of November 13, all of nearly ten Seven.AM stores in Hanoi were closed with no official announcement.
People living near a store on Thai Ha Street said that it has been closed for two days.
CEO of Hanoi-based MHA Jsc, which owns the Seven.AM brand, Dang Quoc Anh, told the VnEpxress Newspaper that the stores were closed because the company is waiting for investigation results from Hanoi’s Department of Market Surveillance.
On November 11, Hanoi’s Department of Market Surveillance checked five Seven.AM outlets and found that despite having Made-in-Vietnam labels, all the products do not show names of producers. All five stores also failed to show sufficient invoices proving the lawful origin of the goods. Authorities then seized all of over 9,000 products including dresses, skirts, coats, shirts, bags and wallets, in these five stores for investigation.
The market management team took three samples for quality inspection.
The investigation was launched after media reports alleged Seven.AM was importing Chinese goods and replacing Made in China labels.
A rising number of fraud involving origin of Vietnamese products have been reported. In 2017, famous silk brand Khaisilk admitted that they had replaced Made-in China labels and had to stop operations afterwards.
On November 4, a market management team conducted an inspection at a garment factory in Long Bien District and found that workers were cutting original labels in foreign languages and replacing them with Ifu and Nem labels on clothing products.
At the time of inspection, authorities seized a total volume of goods of about four tonnes, estimated to be worth VND2 billion (USD87,000).
A representative of Nem fashion told the Vietnam News Newspaper that the firm was completely unaware the facility in Long Bien District had counterfeited Vietnamese brands including a small number labelled Nem.
Nem said it would work closely with the Hanoi Market Management Department to protect its brand.
Director of the Hanoi Market Management Department Chu Xuen Kien said the case was still under investigation. To avoid harming the reputation of brands, the functional force was handling the issue very carefully.
In another case, Electronics maker Asanzo is now also being investigated for allegedly replacing Chinese labels with Vietnamese on its TV products.
Source: Dtinews