Some companies are placing wider focus on manufacturing office attire, photo Le Toan

Statista, a German online data platform, last week estimated that despite difficulties affecting consumer budgets, revenue in the Vietnamese fashion market is projected to reach $1.88 billion in 2023, and show an annual growth rate of 11.36 per cent, resulting in a projected market volume of $2.88 billion by 2027.

“Many local and foreign fashion brands are using the latest technologies for promotion in Vietnam, creating big competition,” said Nguyen Viet Ha, an expert from the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department for Science and Technology.

More than 200 medium and high-end foreign fashion brands such as Chanel, Giovanni, Mango, Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, Warehouse, Topshop, CK, Nike, and Levi’s have arrived in the market and continuously expanded their retail systems in recent years.

In May, UNIQLO Vietnam announced the opening of a new store in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, with the number of the company’s stores in Vietnam rising to 19. In just over six months, the Japanese fashion brand has launched six new stores, and another new store in the southern province of Binh Duong is set to open imminently.

Osamu Ikezoe, general director of UNIQLO Vietnam, said, “Our three years of development, in terms of physical stores and an online store, has been a memorable journey. We have achieved our targets in opening retail stores in Vietnam so far. This inspires us to continuously open and even increase the speed of opening new stores to meet such strong demand.”

Elsewhere, H&M, which launched its first store in Vietnam in 2017, is now present in five provinces and cities across the country with 12 stores. Last month, the brand launched an online store in the Vietnam market.

At the end of 2022, a South Korean brand for young people, MLB, consecutively opened three big stores in Ho Chi Minh City and the central city of Danang. To date, the brand has 18 stores nationwide. Japan’s AEON Retail Group recently also launched My Closet, a cheap fast fashion brand, in this country.

According to Statista, the garment and textile industry in Vietnam is forecast to reach $7.33 billion by 2025 and there is still plenty of room for growth.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that the Vietnamese retail market is worth $142 billion, which is expected to increase to $350 billion by 2025, contributing to 59 per cent of the country’s GDP.

To reduce dependence on export orders, enterprises are paying more attention to capturing domestic market share. However, local enterprises are facing fierce competition with foreign fashion brands.

In recent years, some top fashion manufacturers in the country, such as Garment 10, Duc Giang, Viet Tien, Nha Be, and Viet Thang have focused on researching and releasing a variety of product lines with assorted designs, categories, and brand promotion to conquer the local market. To utilise the domestic market, Garment 10 focuses on office fashion and high-end fashion for both women and men, and has opened a chain of both online and offline retail stores.

“We are proud to have self-designed and manufactured products and have a market research team that constantly updates fashion trends and new technologies in the fashion industry,” said Than Duc Viet, CEO of Garment 10. “Moreover, we are also interested in manufacturing office uniforms for local enterprises such as VietinBank, An Binh Bank, and the State Treasury.”

Other local players like Viet Tien, Nha Be, and Viet Thang are also investing in the local market, expanding to increase market share, enhance business performance, and deliver products to customers.

“At present, it is a favourable time for textile and garments enterprises to utilise the domestic market. Because 10 years ago, Vietnamese consumers preferred ready-made garments originating from abroad due to their low prices, and now most of them are choosing high-quality products from Vietnamese brands,” said Cao Huu Hieu, CEO of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group.

Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that the domestic market with a scale of nearly $5 billion was being targeted by domestic enterprises by changing and applying new designs and advertisements to conquer the market and take market share from foreign players.

“We will continue to stand side by side and support businesses, as well as coordinate with international organisations to support them in governance, green transformation, new technology, branding, and trade promotion, in their fight against foreign brands,” Giang said.