We are proud that we could win denim expert Martin Schaefer as a guest author. The renowned denim and jeans sourcing expert for the South Asian region was recently on the road for us at the Denimsandjeans fair in Vietnam. Read his report here.
What makes the success of a fair? Is it a lot of people who are pushing you through the alleys or that you found what you have been looking for?
They say Vietnam will be the next China regarding the production of apparel. I wanted to see what is possible for denim right now so I attended the two-day Denimsandjeans show last week.
Vietnam started jeans production with the new century and it is steadily growing. The biggest part of the jeans is exported to the US. But there are also some European brands that relocated a part of their production to this Asian country. Within not even 20 years, no industry can be huge but denim out of Vietnam will play an important role.
Denimsandjeans.com organizes and presents its show once a year in Ho Chi Minh City with the support of VITAS (the textile and apparel association).
The show presented exhibitors from different Asian countries. There were fabrics from India, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam plus some local garment producers. VITAS represents the garment producers and recommends suppliers corresponding to any needs.
Exhibitors were happy with the results of the show. The Prosperity staff was constantly busy serving their clients and Agha Dastageer (Kassim denim), Saud Saeed (Rajby textiles) and Muhammad Ali (Indigo textiles) all saw the clients they wanted to see. Abbas Rizvi (SM Denim Mills, Pakistan) delivers denims to Vietnam for his clients in the US, the Netherlands and Germany and Foison’s Sam Li is very happy with his business in Vietnam.
TCE is the only vertical setup in Vietnam and producing fabrics there since 1956. The company runs a sustainable production with every certificate that is available. This is definitively very impressive–much more than everyone would expect. Viet Hong is part of a Vietnamese group of companies. Their denims are used by their own factories.
Remarkable was the presence of two mills that are well known for their selvedge denims (Selvedge Denim Vintage, HK and G.M.S., Thailand).
Sandeep Agarwal, founder of Denimsandjeans, mentioned a 40% increase in visitors. They came from Hong Kong, China, the USA and different European countries. VITAS organized a denim summit for its members, which brought a lot of jeans producers to the show, and the seminars overall were well accepted by the visitors.
Good news from Denimsandjeans is that its app “DE brands” for all smartphones will be available in two months. It will make the pre-selection for denims easy and offers several filters for the fabric.
By the end of 2018 Vietnam will get a better status and custom duties for the EU will–hopefully–be dropped. This will open all doors for new clients. The country is ready. The capacity in jeans production is available and could be increased. There is a well-trained workforce and the infrastructure is good. Foreign fabrics are easily accessible and local fabrics are reasonable. In 2019 the big local jeans producers will show their products and the show will definitively become a one-stop solution for denims and jeans sourcing in Vietnam.
I will definitely be back next year.
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