Vietnam to shift focus in 2026 to smaller, higher-value orders: VITAS

VITAS chairman Vu Duc Giang recently said hat Vietnam still has significant scope to enhance the added value of its products.

Instead of relying on mass production, the industry will now focus on the high-intellectual-content segment.

As evidence of this shift, the VITAS chairman told a recent press conference that Garco 10 Corporation is now producing suits for Japanese and US markets on a made-to-measure basis for individual customers.

However, anticipated challenges this year include input a sharp rise in costs like wages, energy and logistics, while selling prices struggle to increase at the same pace, squeezing profit margins.

The garment industry in the country last year overcame major challenges to reach $46 billion in export turnover—up by 5 per cent year on year.

In 2026, global textile and garment market is not expected to grow strongly, forcing domestic businesses to increase their flexibility and adaptability.

Hoang Manh Cam, chief of the board of directors' office of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said the biggest pressure this year will no longer be immediate tariff shock, but rather the fact that tariffs have already ‘permeated’ into consumption.

The room for retailers and suppliers to absorb the tariff costs has almost run out, and in 2026, the likelihood of price increases is very clear, which will directly impact consumer demand, especially for textiles and garments with medium to high price elasticity, Cam added.

Vinatex projected that the rise in global textile and garment demand in 2026 will only be about 3 per cent, a 50 per cent reduction year on year.

Fibre2Fashion (DS)