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Garment-makers shun local materials
Vietnam’s garment-making firms are fed up with the inconsistent quality and limited designs of locally-made materials and are increasingly turning to overseas fabric suppliers.
It is estimated that about 90 percent of fabric and other materials used by domestic clothing and textile firms are now sourced from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Vietnam imported US$4.43 billion worth of fabric last year, 11 percent more than in 2007, according to the General Statistics Office.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has set a target for Vietnamese-made materials to meet half the sector’s needs by next year. But local firms say the target is unrealistic.
Domestic-made fabric is often more expensive than imported fabric even though the quality and design are inferior to those imported from outside the country, the general director of a local fashion company said.
The director of a clothing line, who did not wish to be named, said she had just returned a consignment of khaki fabric to a domestic fabric maker because of its poor quality.
The color in the fabric, which was to be used to make 1,000 pairs of trousers, was inconsistent, the director said.
“If we tried to use this fabric, our pants would have had legs of different shades,” she said.
The director, who has worked in the industry for 20 years, said the quality of Vietnam-made garment materials was not reliable. Fabric tended to shrink or fade after being washed a few times, she said.
“We can’t rely on local sources of materials because the quality and designs are not consistent,” said Nguyen Huu Phung, chairman of the managing board of the Thoi Trang Viet Company., which has several subsidiaries including the fashion chain Ninomaxx.
Phung said his company often had to offer refunds or move items at discounts because it had been supplied with poor quality fabric.
Industry sources said most local fabric makers were focused on supplying garment exporters rather than firms that sell garments into the domestic market.
Le Trung Hai, deputy general director of the National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX), attributed the problem to the lack of cooperation among local weaving, dyeing and garment making firms.
“The various stages of making garments can require a combined investment capital of tens of millions of U.S. dollars,” Hai said. “Neighboring countries have upgraded their production and are now able to save on production costs so if Vietnamese firms start paying more attention to this, they will have greater chance to compete.”
Industry representatives said the government should do more to encourage domestic firms to invest in the fields of weaving, dyeing and creating finished products.
They also said it was necessary to change the mindset of local supply companies, which tended to focus on keeping costs down at the expense of quality.
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