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Leather, footwear set to earn $2b in exports
The leather and footwear industry earned an export revenue of about US$2 billion in the first quarter this year as part of a $7.3 billion annual target, up 21.7 per cent against 2011.
Nguyen Thi Tong, deputy chairwoman and general secretary of the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), made the statement at a seminar jointly held by it and the Viet Nam Leather and Shoe Research Institute in the capital yesterday.
The event was aimed at launching a campaign to encourage Vietnamese creative designers to take part in the 4th International Footwear Design Competition 2012 in the Asia region. The competition will take place in Guang Zhou, China, from May 30 to June 1 and will be organised by the Asia Footwear Association and regional industrial associations.
"The initiative targets improving design capacity and production in Asian countries as well as discovering creative and professional designers," she said.
It will be a playing ground for enterprises and designers to assert their positions and styles.
"The industry has been promoting enterprises and designers, especially the youth, to create unique designs in an effort for shoe makers to implement direct orders rather than sub-contracts," she noted.
Most local producers utilise sub-contracts or outsource deals to international partners in Hong Kong, South Korea among others, with great dependence on imported raw materials and accessories, designs as well as equipment.
Tran Tuyet Mai, a representative of the Viet Nam Leather and Shoe Research Institute, said that active participation of Vietnamese designers would make a great contribution to the country's shoe industry as it still lacked qualified and professional players.
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