Around 1,416 garment factory workers have been made redundant as UK garment manufacturer Next Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd., the supplier of clothing to Next PLC UK, shut one of its factories in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ), owing to high operational costs, a statement released by the company said.

“At the heart of this decision is the increasingly high operating cost of the Katunayake Manufacturing Plant. Sadly, the closure will result in 1,416 redundancies overall,” a statement by Manufacturing Director David Reay said.

“For some years now, the plant has been unprofitable, and despite our considerable efforts to rectify the situation, we have been unable to make the factory economically viable,” the statement said.

Further, the embellishment and product development plants within the FTZ are to continue to operate with a smaller workforce. “The Embellishment and Product Development Plants, which are also based in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone, will remain operational but with reduced numbers of employees.”

“Next’s other manufacturing operations based in Andigama and Nawgaththegama (NMA 2, NMA 3 and NMA Cutting) will also continue to operate as usual,” the statement said.

It added that the Colombo sourcing office and operations are to not be affected by the change.

“We would like to reassure our remaining colleagues that no further redundancies in Sri Lanka are planned or foreseen by Next Manufacturing.”