Sri Lanka workers in limbo after UK garment factory abruptly shuts

On a Monday morning that began like any other, Nandani*, a machine operator at the Next Manufacturing factory in Sri Lanka’s Katunayake Free Trade Zone, was unexpectedly asked to go home early. Later that day, the news came – not in a meeting or an official letter, but via WhatsApp.

The factory was shutting down. Permanently.

“I am 49 years old. My livelihood suddenly ended. I don’t know what to do,” said Nandani, who had worked for 19 years at the Next factory.

Like Nandani, more than 1,400 of roughly 2,800 workers were blindsided by the abrupt closure of Next Manufacturing, a subsidiary of the British retail giant Next. The company blamed “increasingly high operating costs” in a media release dated May 19.

Next Manufacturing’s parent company had reported more than £1 billion (US$1.35 billion) in pre-tax profits in the last financial year.

Labour rights advocates say Next Manufacturing’s closure has violated Sri Lankan law and risks undermining the country’s fragile economic recovery, as global firms rethink their footprint in post-crisis economies.