Ho Chi Minh emerging as garment hub

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city is poised to build large centres for designing fashion, trading garments, textile material and accessories to become the country’s future garment, textile material and accessory hub. Ho Chi Minh has set targets of meeting 80 to 90 per cent of Vietnam’s demand for garments and textiles by 2020 and supplying 100 per cent of accessories for the country’s garment industry. However, Ho Chi Minh will not establish large-scale garment and textile industrial parks, because the existing ones can accommodate all relevant enterprises.

According to approved plans, the city has 23 industrial parks and export processing zones, of which 17 are operational. Most garment and textile firms are now located in the export processing zones of Tan Thuan and Linh Trung, and the industrial parks of Tan Thoi Hiep, Tan Binh, Tan Tao, Tay Bac Cu Chi and Dong Nam.

Vietnam is one of the five largest textile and garment exporters in the world. However, the country is also one of the world’s leading importers of fabrics and materials. The shortage of high-quality materials for production is the biggest barrier to Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, hindering the country from taking advantage of FTAs.