The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has raided a footwear assembly facility in Kawdana, Dehiwala, where shoes put together locally were being labelled “Made in China” and supplied to well-known retail chains, the Daily Mirror reported.
Officers seized nearly 1,000 pairs of footwear along with the raw materials used to assemble them.
How the arrangement worked
According to the CAA, soles and other components were imported separately as raw materials — allegedly to avoid the import duties that apply to finished footwear. Neither report states the duty rates on components or on finished shoes.
The components were then assembled and glued together at the Kawdana facility to produce complete pairs. The finished shoes were packaged and labelled as Chinese-made before being distributed to retail outlets. The products allegedly did not carry the name and address of the actual manufacturer, as required.
Hiru News reported that the facility was operating without paying taxes and that the assembled footwear was sold at high prices under the counterfeit labels.
How the CAA found it
The raid was carried out on September 11 and followed what the Authority described as a lengthy investigation into invoices and the supply chain of footwear bought from a well-known clothing and fashion retail chain — that is, the CAA worked backwards from the shelf to the workshop rather than acting on a tip about the premises.
Neither outlet names the retail chain or the facility’s operator.
Why it matters
The CAA said the practice could mislead consumers about where a product was actually made, and make it difficult to identify who is responsible if the footwear proves defective.
It also warned the arrangement creates unfair competition for local manufacturers and traders who comply with tax and labelling requirements — a point that cuts against the assumption that the loser in a mislabelling case is only the consumer.
Further investigations are underway and legal action will follow once they conclude, the Authority said. It added that it would continue follow-up raids based on invoice and supply-chain information, and asked the public to report suspected misleading trade practices through its 1977 hotline during office hours.
The raid extends an active enforcement run by the Authority, which last month filed lawsuits against 84 retailers and fined traders over helmets and infant formula.
Not reported
Neither report names the retail chains supplied, the company or individuals operating the facility, or how long it had been running. Neither gives the value of the seized stock, the duty allegedly evaded, or the difference in duty between footwear components and finished footwear.
Neither says whether Sri Lanka Customs or the Inland Revenue Department is involved alongside the CAA, whether anyone was arrested, or whether the retailers that stocked the shoes are themselves under investigation. Ada Derana was unreachable behind a CloudFront block and could not be checked.
