Sourcing guide · Southeast Asia
How to source apparel & textiles from Vietnam
Knitted, woven, and finished garments. Below: realistic FOB cost vs Chinese baseline, full lead time including sea freight to Rotterdam, minimum order quantities you'll actually negotiate with, and what audit discipline this country × category combination demands before signing your first PO.
Cost and lead time at a glance
For apparel & textiles sourced from Vietnam, OrcaTrade's benchmark is FOB index 0.92 relative to a Chinese tier-2 factory baseline (CN = 1.00). This means a unit you'd buy at €10 FOB from China typically lands at €9.20 from Vietnam — before duty, freight, and any preferential origin claims.
Production runs 7 weeks at the factory; sea freight from Vietnam to Rotterdam adds 5 weeks. Total door-to-warehouse: 12 weeks. Air freight saves 3-4 weeks at significant cost premium; for the 200-5000 kg sweet spot from China, rail via Małaszewicze is faster than sea by 10-15 days.
MOQ bands: minimum acceptable is around 800 units, typical orders are 3000 units. Below the minimum, factories often deprioritise small orders and add 1+ week to the lead time.
Specialty and risk profile
Strong on cotton knits and athleisure; EVFTA duty preference is significant
Capacity tight Q4 due to seasonal apparel demand
Country context
- EVFTA gives preferential EU duty access on most categories
- Rapid production capacity growth since 2018
- Quality variance higher than CN tier-1 factories
Quality and IP risk
Quality risk: medium. A factory inspection before the first order is recommended, with AQL on the first 3 shipments.
IP risk: low. Standard contractual protections sufficient for most categories. EU contract law prevails where the relationship is well-documented.
Sample suppliers
Anonymised portfolio examples from OrcaTrade's HK office. Real introductions and audit data are available via partner request.
| City | Specialty | Sample lead time | Min MOQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ho Chi Minh City | Cotton + bamboo blends, EVFTA-ready | 10 days | 800 |
Compare with other origins
For the same category — apparel & textiles — across the OrcaTrade benchmark:
| Country | FOB index | Production lead | Sea transit | Total lead | Quality risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 1× | 6w | 5w | 11w | low |
| Vietnam (this guide) | 0.92× | 7w | 5w | 12w | medium |
| India | 0.85× | 8w | 4w | 12w | medium |
| Bangladesh | 0.78× | 9w | 5w | 14w | medium |
| Türkiye | 1.18× | 4w | 1w | 5w | low |
Next concrete step
If you're at the "choose a sourcing country" stage, run a free comparison through the OrcaTrade Sourcing Agent — it ranks all five countries on cost, quality, IP risk, and lead time for your specific MOQ and urgency. If you're at the "need real supplier introductions" stage, the OrcaTrade HK office runs a 2-4 week supplier-discovery sprint and returns a 5-supplier longlist with samples.