by Rachel Lawler | January 11, 2024
Seven of the top ten largest suppliers of apparel to the US experienced a fall in shipment volumes with imports from Bangladesh sinking for the fourth consecutive month.
Vietnam is the new “flavour of the month”
The second trend is that “Vietnam is coming back”. “Despite its relatively weak performance earlier in the year, US apparel imports from Vietnam in November 2023 enjoyed a robust 7.4% year-over-year growth in quantity, one of the highest among the top suppliers,” Lu says. “Vietnam’s market shares in November 2023 also reached 18.5% in value and 16.2% in quantity, both about two percentage points higher than a year ago.”
After the continued fall out from the Covid-19 pandemic, Lu says that Vietnam could benefit from US companies looking to broaden their sourcing base. He explains: “As revealed in the 2023 Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study released by the US Fashion Industry Association, US fashion companies commonly regard Vietnam as their top choice of “China alternative.”