Wolverine Worldwide to shift production from China to Vietnam
12/11/2014
During a conference led by the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) and the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) in Vietnam, a representative from Wolverine laid out plans to shift manufacturing from China to Vietnam.
Driven by rising wages, coupled with expected benefits from the incoming Transpacific Partnership (TPP), Scott Thomas said while 75% of the company’s supplies currently come from China, the group has plans to cut it to a third by 2020 and leave the rest to Vietnam, which currently supplies 15%.
Taiwanese group Ever Rite launched production Vietnam in 2013 after China and Indonesia and now runs 57 assembly lines here. It said it plans to add more in the near future. The delegation heard wages are around 40% lower than in China.
Footwear is Vietnam’s third most-lucrative export industry in terms of revenue and generated $8.5 billion in 2013. Lefaso is targeting sales of $12 billion in 2014 for leathergoods and footwear.
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