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COTTON USA Hits the Mark for Retailers at its Vietnam Sourcing Tour
CCI held its second COTTON USA Buyers Tour to Vietnam earlier this month and received a great turnout of 18 buyers - the largest ever turnout for a COTTON USA Buyers Tour!
It introduced buyers from leading brands, retailers and trading companies from Europe and the U.S. to 29 quality suppliers from Southeast Asia. The successful week-long event held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, saw the placement of over half a million dollars in sample orders of U.S. cotton-rich products.
The tour enabled buyers to explore the advantages of sourcing U.S. cotton-rich garments from the strong textile economies across Southeast Asia, as well as from Korean, Taiwanese and U.S. joint venture textile companies operating in Vietnam. This event was extremely successful as 98 percent of attendees believed new business would be generated as a result of the COTTON USA Buyers Tour.
The week-long event to Vietnam began with an extensive briefing session that included introductions to CCI, Cotton Incorporated, the Vietnam Textile Association and Mast Industries - owner of Victoria's Secret and an independent division of Limited Brands, which operates in Vietnam. The session featured a presentation by WRAP - the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production organisation - to review compliance requirements.
Participants also had the opportunity to attend a trade show where they were able to view a number of products from quality cotton suppliers. The tour also included a two-day visit to textile and garment manufacturers in Vietnam. Buyers were able to inspect each company's manufacturing facilities to view U.S. cotton-rich wovens, denims, knitwear, sportswear and garments.
CCI's group of 18 buyers included many well-known names, such as, Debenhams, Intersport, Mango, Marks & Spencer, Max Mara, Nordstrom, Phillips-Van Heusen and Tesco. Representatives from local buying offices included Target / AMC, Li & Fung, Mitsubishi and Uny. What's more, additional buyers representing Adidas, The Cotton Group B&C from Belgium and Hu Wei International from Spain coincidentally joined the event as a result of seeing the promotional materials in the hotel where the COTTON USA fair was held.
The large group of buyers attracted 29 supplier companies from Southeast Asia. Participating Indonesian companies included Argo Manunggal, Batam Textiles, Lucky Abadi, Lancar, Sainath Industries and Tyfountex. Thai companies included Bangkok Phaisarn, Bangkok Weaving, Nan Yang, Thai Fujibo, Thai Wacoal, Thai Textile Industry and the TK and VT garment companies. Vietnamese companies included Phong Pu, Thanh Cong, Kao Sha Vietnam, ITG (Burlington) and Hanoi Textile and Garments, as well as other garment companies using COTTON USA-qualified fabrics including Chute, Garment 10, NHA Be, Sae-A, Saitex, Song Hong, TCE (Taechang) and Viet Tien Garments.
For more information on upcoming sourcing tours contact International Marketing Manager, Steph Thiers-Ratcliffe at sthiers@cotton.org.