Vietnam's footwear market and the golden opportunity for positive change

In the context of globalization and the emergence of trade agreements, the Vietnamese footwear industry has many opportunities to develop to new heights. However, we also face many challenges that force businesses in the industry to make efforts to adapt to overcome and compete in the international market.  

In recent years, the Vietnamese footwear industry has been making positive changes. During the two years of the pandemic, while other countries faced many difficulties when supply chains were broken, demand for goods decreased, and export activities were stagnant, our country had the advantage of recovering production after the pandemic, with strong growth in orders and export turnover. Specifically, while the proportion of global footwear exports of other countries decreased seriously, our country increased its proportion from 2% to 10.2%. In 2020, Vietnam exported a total of about 1.2 billion pairs of shoes and rose to second place in the world in leather and footwear production. In 2021, the Vietnamese footwear industry quickly recovered production under "new normal" conditions, raising export turnover to 20 billion USD. In 2022, according to preliminary statistics of the General Department of Customs, footwear export turnover in the first 4 months of the year reached nearly 7.32 billion USD, an increase of 12.41% over the same period in 2021. In April 2022 alone, the export turnover of this group of goods reached 2.02 billion USD, a slight increase of 0.51% over March 2022 and an increase of 17.41% over April 2021.

Vietnam's footwear industry has great potential for development.

According to the general assessment of the prospects of the Vietnamese footwear industry, our country's product lines are currently at an average level with an export price of 16.64 USD, while the world's export price is 19.7 USD. This shows that Vietnam's footwear products are at the world's average level and have a fairly high value compared to other products. In particular, free trade agreements such as the CPTPP Agreement, EVFTA Agreement, UKVFTA and RCEP Agreement have been signed and come into effect, becoming a major driving force for the growth of the Vietnamese footwear industry in the coming time. We have the opportunity to expand export markets and participate more deeply in global supply chains. Currently, Vietnamese footwear products have been exported to more than 150 markets around the world, focusing on major markets such as the US, EU, China, Japan, UK, etc. According to Ken Research, the annual compound growth rate of the Vietnamese sports goods market will be 19.5% in the period 2018 - 2023. In particular, sports footwear products have great development potential, with advantages over competing countries such as China, Myanmar, India and Cambodia.

Export turnover of Vietnam's footwear industry continuously increases

However, it is undeniable that our country's footwear industry still has certain limitations. According to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association, the footwear industry has long been mainly processing and lacked a plan for the development of supporting industries, so domestic enterprises have not been able to take the initiative in the supply chain of raw materials, increase added value and reduce dependence on imported raw materials. At the same time, the domestic footwear market is being left open when imported products account for 60% of the market share. This figure shows that the demand for domestic products in our country is low, and the support of domestic consumers is not enough to help Vietnamese-branded footwear products dominate the market. Along with that, the Vietnamese footwear industry also faces challenges in solving problems in the supply chain and human resources in this field. We are currently still heavily dependent on raw materials from other countries, especially China. At the same time, under the impact of the epidemic, the labor force in the industry is still in shortage and has not met the market demand. Meanwhile, the current human resources are still limited in terms of skills and qualifications in accessing new technology. Therefore, we still face many difficulties in competing with other competitors. 

Vietnam's footwear industry faces many challenges

Faced with challenges, we are forced to come up with solutions, changes and timely adaptation to boost production, development and consumption of Vietnamese footwear products. We need to know how to seize and take advantage of opportunities thanks to signed Agreements, creating high-value products in the global supply chain. To compete with the big guys, the Vietnamese footwear industry needs to create product lines that both ensure quality and stay ahead of fashion and technology trends. As a national brand in the footwear industry, Biti's has quickly caught up with fashion trends, constantly launching high-end, youthful product lines with diverse designs, styles, colors and styles. Biti's current product lines have shown that Vietnamese brands are fully capable of competing and developing in parallel with prominent names in the international market.  

New product line from Biti's 

In the 4.0 era, with the development of science and technology, the Vietnamese footwear industry must take advantage, renew itself, promote production activities and provide quality and innovative product lines. Enterprises need to change their thinking, apply technology to products to increase consumption in the domestic market as well as increase competitiveness with major brands. Recently, Run Together is the pioneer in launching the first line of NFC chip technology sports shoes in Vietnam.

Run Together technology shoes - the first NFC chip sports shoes in Vietnam

This is a creative product with a Vietnamese brand and is certified copyright with the Run Together Logo Set and Run Together – Be Healthy Computer Software. The birth of Run Together technology shoes has shown an important step forward, creating a new wave, bringing innovative products in the field of fitness and sports.

Run Together technology sneakers are beautifully designed with outstanding features

To maximize the potential in business and develop Vietnamese footwear product lines, domestic brands need to build a policy of technological innovation, develop supporting industries for raw material production, apply 4.0 technology in the direction of improving product quality and productivity, enhancing the competitiveness of footwear exports; develop brands and distribution systems in domestic and international markets. We believe that, with current efforts and strengths, the Vietnamese footwear industry will continue to develop and affirm its position in the international market.