Domestic garment industry to focused on exports

HCM City (VNA) - Garment companies are missing out on a great
opportunity to expand at home because of their preoccupation with export
markets, an industry seminar said.

With a population of 82 million people, most of them young, Vietnam is
considered a highly promising fashion market in Asia and globally.

A recent survey by the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) found
domestic demand for fashion increasing 20-40 percent annually.

Fifty percent of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City spent 500,000 VND to 1
million a month on clothing, according to a survey by Business Study and
Assistance Centre (BSA).

With Vietnamese spending around 150,000 VND (9 USD) per month per capita,
the market is estimated at 500 million USD per year.

Vietnam ranked ninth among garment exporters. But Le Quoc An,
Vinatex's chairman, said domestic firms did not dominate the local market.

Around 140 popular international brands from France , Italy , the US ,
Spain , and other countries can be found in the country's boutiques.
Imported fashion items, in fact, hold a whopping 60 percent market share.

Products from Asian countries like China , the Republic of Korea ,
Thailand and Singapore too are very popular in Vietnam . Chinese
clothes are very popular and competitive because of their reasonable prices,
delegates heard.

Zen Plaza , a fashion hub in HCM City , recently did a survey
based on the 6,000 to 7,000 receipts it make daily. It found more than 30
percent were worth over 1 million VND and customers to be mainly 22-40 years
old.

An said many garment firms merely did outsourcing work for foreign
partners, earning little revenue. If they invested more in design and
distribution capabilities, their revenues would burgeon, he said.-Enditem