5:25:56 PM | 4/11/2008
Vietnamese garment companies are missing out on a great opportunity to expand at home because of their preoccupation with export markets, the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing an industry seminar.
Vietnam ranked ninth among garment exporters in the world but domestic firms did not dominate the local market, said Le Quoc An, Vinatex’s chairman, spoke at the seminar.
Around 140 popular international brands from France, Italy, the U.S., Spain, and other countries can be found in the country’s boutiques. Imported fashion items, in fact, hold a whopping 60 per cent market share.
Products from Asian countries like China, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Singapore too are very popular in Vietnam. Chinese clothes are very popular and competitive because of their reasonable prices.
With a population of 82 million people, most of them young, Vietnam is considered a highly promising fashion market in Asia and globally.
A recent survey by the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) found domestic demand for fashion increasing 20-40 per cent annually.
Fifty percent of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City spent VND500,000-VND1 million a month on clothing, according to a survey by Business Study and Assistance Centre (BSA).
With Vietnamese spending around VND150,000 (US$9) per month per capita, the market is estimated at US$500 million per year.
An said many Vietnamese garment firms merely outsourced for foreign partners, earning little revenue. If they invested more in design and distribution capabilities, their revenues would burgeon, he said. (VNA)
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