Chances and Challenges of Vietnam's Garment Industry in the new Trend of Sustainable Development

To remain internationally competitive, Vietnam's garment industry aims to build upon low production costs with the target of taking available advantages from reasonable pricing, the improvement of product quality, and an increase in labor productivity. However, despite export growth, the added value of the industry is still not as worthy as its potential. This leads to the significance of the study to explore underlying reasons for what hindered the development of Vietnam's garment industry. The study was done following a two-phase study. Phase I was a qualitative exploration through in-depth interviews with eight companies' executives, and Phase II was quantitative research through an online survey from selected leading professors and company executives representing different aspects of Vietnam's garment industry. Six main themes emerging from this study reveal two different viewpoints of Vietnam's garment industry, including both chances and challenges that Vietnam's garment industry will be facing in the current trend of deepening and widening international integration.