Vietnamese textile and garment firms hope to boost their exports to Canada once the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) takes effect in early 2019. Both Vietnam and Canada are members of the CPTPP, which also gathers nine other countries. The agreement covers a market of about 500 million people and has a combined GDP of 10.1 trillion dollars or 13.5 per cent of worldwide GDP.

Vietnam is yet to sign a free trade agreement with Canada, therefore, the CPTPP will help accelerate textile-garment shipments to the North American market in coming years. Canadian retailers and importers have shown interest in textile and garments from Vietnam.

One Vietnamese company Phong Phu has succeeded in implementing the original design manufacturer production model. By applying advanced technologies, the company now only needs a few days to create new product models, instead of the previous period of two months. The time needed to bring a new product to the market has also been reduced from eight weeks to two weeks.

Another company, Hanosimex, has introduced 40 knitting products and cotton towels to Canadian partners. In order to optimise the advantages generated by the CPTPP, Hanosimex will step up capitalising on material supply sources to satisfy the yarn forward rule of origin under this deal.