Perfecting the textile and apparel supply chain

With a string of accessory production projects coming on stream, the sector’s value chain will be one step closer to perfection

Particularly, global zipper manufacturer Velcro has inaugurated its zipper manufacturing facility in the southern province of Binh Duong, looking to serve the Vietnamese market and boost exports to the markets where Velcro’s major business partners are positioned.

According to a source from Velcro, the Vietnamese textile and apparel industry features enormous export potential which is expected to touch $35 billion this year. Meanwhile, there is still ‘vacant space’ in the supply chain, particularly in accessory production, providing opportunities for global manufacturers like Velcro.

Velcro’s global strategic director Bryan Whitfield revealed that they had an array of choices of where to build the zipper factory, but they ultimately chose Vietnam.

The decision was based on diverse factors, such as Vietnam’s lucrative investment environment, its constantly growing export production sectors, the ability to tap into opportunities from Vietnam’s membership to diverse important free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the EU-Vietnam FTA, the Vietnam-South Korea FTA, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

“Compared to other countries, Vietnam is full of potential for brand expansion and product development. Velcro will focus on operations, bringing products closer to local consumers, while simultaneously opening a website for brand promotion.

“With Vietnam’s abundant workforce and dynamic economy, Velcro’s management believes in success in the Vietnamese market,” said Whitfield.

Less than one week before Velcro’s factory launch, South Korean group Kolon Industries Inc. inaugurated and put into operation its $220 million polyester tyre cord fabrics plant based in Bau Bang Industrial Park in Binh Duong.

Kolon’s executives said that the Binh Duong factory follows the smart factory model with a first-phase production capacity of 1,400 tonnes of polyester tyre cord fabrics per year.

According to the group, the project’s first phase has an investment value of $220 million, which will increase to $600 million in the second phase slated from 2018 to 2026, and is expected to reach $1 billion in the third phase.

As planned, the textile and apparel sector will have an additional supply of accessories next year as the first phase of Germany’s Amann group’s embroidery thread production facility will be completed in June. The facility will have an annual production capacity of 2,300 tonnes, with the first phase contributing for 1,000 tonnes.

Foreign-invested projects on textile and apparel accessories production has created $1.2 billion export value last year. This figure is expected to increase in the forthcoming years with the recent launch of these two major factories.