Vietnam's garment and textile companies eye sustainable products

"Vietnam has risen to the top three largest textile and garment exporting countries in the world, with a growth rate of nearly 20 per cent over the past decade. Therefore, green and sustainable production are important factors for Vietnam's textile and garment sector," said Vu Ba Phu, director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE), at a press conference to introduce the Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies (VIATT) on August 28.

VIATT will make its debut from February 28 to March 1, 2024, at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre, Ho Chi Minh City. The event aims to draw in over 500 exhibitors and around 35,000 visitors to an 18,000 square metre exhibition space.

As an international trade fair, VIATT 2024 will be a meeting place for suppliers and buyers of all categories to find sources of supply and maximise the potential of this market. By connecting textile companies across Asia and Europe, VIATT 2024 will play an important role in shaping the future of Vietnam's garments and textiles industry, according to Phu.

He said that representatives of both Messe Frankfurt and VIETRADE believed that the trade fair would bring opportunities for the entire textile value chain.

This is the leading event for the garments and textiles sector in Southeast Asia, being held in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time. The event is just in time for businesses to source supplies for the spring.

"Serving as a supplementary trade fair to our existing events in China, VIATT will effectively extend our market reach into Southeast Asia. We’ve designed it to reinforce our global Texpertise Network, spanning the entire textile value chain. The network, which links over half a million textile professionals globally and organises more than 50 international textile trade fairs across 11 different countries, will lend its full support to the fair," said Wendy Wen, managing director of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd. "In line with this commitment, we will harness our more than 30 years of experience organizing intertextile exhibitions in China and extend them to the fast-growing textile sector in Vietnam."

Amidst a gradual recovery in global demand, Vietnam's garments and textiles export turnover reached more than $3.2 billion in July, up 6.8 per cent compared to the previous month.

In the first seven months of the year, Vietnam's garments and textiles earnings stood at more than $19.04 billion, down 14.5 per cent over the same period in 2022, according to the General Department of Customs.

Textile apparel sector increasingly going green More producers in the textile apparel sector are adopting measures for green and sustainable production to meet increasingly stringent requirements from trading partners, as well as create extra income sources.

Vietnam prepares for EU’s sustainable textiles overhaul As the European Union attempts to transition to a more sustainable and circular economy, exporting nations will confront new laws and criteria to access the EU market, notably when it comes to garments and textiles.

Vietnam, RoK strengthen textile cooperation The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and the Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KOFOTI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen bilateral cooperation, KOFOTI announced on August 24.