The silk seller for Khaisilk reveals the 'shocking' truth

People in Nha Xa silk village (Ha Nam) said that the village's production capacity is not enough to supply 50% of raw materials for Khaisilk as Mr. Hoang Khai shared earlier.

Admitting to selling "made in China" scarves, Mr. Hoang Khai, owner of the Khaisilk chain, also said that 50% of his products were imported from domestic craft villages, mainly in Nha Xa (Ha Nam). However, Nha Xa residents said that local silk production capacity could not meet the large demand.

Khaisilk sells "made in China" scarves, causing a stir in public opinion

Nha Xa is a village located at the foot of the dike, on the right bank of the Red River, famous for its 600 - 700 years of silk making. Nha Xa silk is famous because most of it is handwoven. Up to now, this craft village is the place to supply silk to many provinces and cities across the country, exporting to many other countries.

A representative of Nha Xa craft village said that silk production and trading is the main source of income for 150 local households. Some households here specialize in making scarves and weaving raw silk. Some households even buy machines and weave at home as a contract job.

In recent years, thanks to machinery, silk production has increased significantly. But according to the head of the craft village, the above figure is "nothing" compared to many other silk craft villages.

Nha Xa silk craft village (Ha Nam).

The price of silk scarves in Nha Xa is high or low depending on the thickness, thinness, length, shortness as well as the ratio of silk and the sophistication of the product's pattern. High-quality silk scarves cost about 150,000-200,000 VND in the village. When reaching domestic consumers, the price can be up to 300,000-500,000 VND, and for export, it is about 1-1.2 million VND when converted to Vietnamese currency.

Not enough silk to supply 50% for Khaisilk

After the Khaisilk brand incident, Nha Xa craft village people these days continuously receive questions from acquaintances related to the story "50% of Khaisilk scarves are imported from craft villages, mostly Nha Xa".

Chairman of Nha Xa Silk Production and Trading Association, Mr. Nguyen Tien Quang, said that Mr. Hoang Khai is just one of many customers of the craft village.

Nha Xa silk is famous because most of it is handmade.

According to the Chairman of Nha Xa Silk Production and Trading Association, Mr. Hoang Khai bought silk in the village through another intermediary, Mr. Trong.

This intermediary is responsible for purchasing silk from other households in the village, then reselling it to Khaisilk. With Nha Xa’s current productivity, meeting nearly 50% of Khaisilk’s silk needs, Mr. Quang said, is difficult to do.

According to Mr. Quang, currently, the craft village has 150 households participating in production. Each month, the productivity of the whole village is 20,000 meters of silk. However, 80% of this is for export, distributed to other provinces in the country such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An... The rest is distributed to wholesale markets and silk shops in Hanoi.

Mr. Tien, who has 25 years of experience in producing and distributing silk in Nha Xa village, said that not only does the village's silk not meet the quantity to sell to Khaisilk, but the form is also difficult to ensure.

According to Mr. Tien, the silk used to make Khaisilk scarves has relatively sophisticated patterns and designs, mainly printed with advanced technology. Meanwhile, with Nha Xa's current manual production method, the ability to meet this factor is not available.

Since 2012, Khaisilk has not imported much silk from Nha Xa.

Mr. Trong, the intermediary who has imported silk from Nha Xa for Khaisilk since 1992, said that from 2010-2012 until now, Khaisilk has not purchased as much Nha Xa silk as in the previous period.

If in 1993-1994, Mr. Trong could hardly collect enough goods to import for this brand, then in the past 5-7 years, the amount of imported goods for Khaisilk has tended to decrease.

However, he also emphasized that when buying silk in Nha Xa, Mr. Hoang Khai always chooses high-quality silk, 100% silk. In the early years, Mr. Khai went to Nha Xa to visit and examine the silk production conditions of the craft village, but in recent years, Khaisilk staff worked with Mr. Trong and he himself sent goods from the locality to Hanoi.

Currently, Nha Xa craft village has about 150 households practicing the craft.

Assessing the recent incident of the Khaisilk brand, Mr. Trong said: "If you look at it from the consumer's perspective, it is understandable to be upset, but in my eyes, Mr. Hoang Khai is still a good businessman."

Mr. Nguyen Tien Quang, Chairman of Nha Xa Silk Production and Trading Association, shared that he and other workers feel unfair to the business activities of Khaisilk owner. "We produce genuine products but the labor and profit are not as high as those who sell fake products, while consumers have to pay a large amount of money to buy products that are not as expected," he said.

“Through this event, I hope Nha Xa silk and Vietnamese silk will have a clearer voice, and consumers will be able to distinguish between Vietnamese silk and non-Vietnamese silk,” the Association Chairman added.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper