VIETNAM news and archive

The textile and clothing sector is recovering in Vietnam

After an unprecedented wave of layoffs, the sector recovered rapidly in the last quarter by abandoning its "zero-covid" policy. Vietnam, along with Cambodia, Bangladesh and more recently Burma, is a major supplier of clothing and textiles to the European Union (and the Western world in general). Its economy has been one of the best performing in...

Fashion Featured

Garment factory workers in Vietnam forced to rely on excessive overtime

Garment factory workers in Vietnam are not able to earn a living wage without working excessive overtime, according to a report published this week by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), based on data collected over three years from 13,000 workers working across 38 factories. Although the average garment factory worker in Vietnam earns more than...

Fashion

WWF teams up with Vietnam’s textile and apparel sector for sustainability project

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has announced a partnership with the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) to make the sector more environmentally friendly through improving water management and energy sustainability. “Vietnam ranks as the fifth largest exporter of apparel goods in the world, but our industry is more famous for...

Retail

Uniqlo to enter Vietnamese market

Japanese casual retailer Uniqlo announced plans to launch its first store in Ho Chi Mihn City in the fall of 2019. The company is soon to begin recruiting employees for the new shop. “Our entry into Vietnam is an exciting milestone for everyone at Uniqlo. The Southeast Asia region has been an important driver of growth for us, and we are pleased...

Fashion

Jewelry line calls attention to lingering effects of Vietnam War

In Laos, one person is killed each day from unexploded bombs left behind from the Vietnam War. Though the CIA-led U.S. invasion of the country ended over 40 years ago, residents of the Southeast Asian nation still face the risk of being injured or killed by the over 80 million hidden explosives. Not only do these weapons pose a daily threat, the...

Business |INTERVIEW Featured

Jean-François Limantour: “The EU favors Asian countries over the Maghreb”

With a resumé that includes experience as General Representative, both at the French Union of the Fashion and Apparel Industries and the European Association of the Apparel Industry, Jean-François Limantour has been an eye-witness to many geopolitical changes that have transformed the sector. During an in person interview with FashionUnited, he...

Fashion Featured

Vietnam's design evolution: Fast fashion to ethical couture

Long a bastion for cheap, fast-fashion manufacturing, a new crop of designers are trying to transform the Made in Vietnam label and save the country's rich ethnic heritage in the process. In the remote hills of Cao Bang, some 300 kilometres north of the capital Hanoi, Vietnamese designer Thao Vu is gleefully dropping swaths of hand-spun cotton...

Fashion

Vietnam garment workers go on mass strike

London - More than 17,000 workers in Vietnam have gone on strike at a garment and footwear factory that counts adidas and Nike as clients, over new company policies that cut down their salaries for missing work. The factory, owned by Taiwan-based garment maker Pou Chen Corp, recently impose new penalties that deduct worker salaries and bonuses...

Retail

Debenhams to launch in Australia and Vietnam

UK department store group Debenhams is set on launching in Australia and Vietnam for the first time next year thanks to the help of its new overseas partners. The group has signed a deal with Pepkor SE Asia, a subsidiary of the Steinhoff group, to offer a selection of its in-house apparel labels in Harris Scarfe prior to opening its own...