As per latest figures from the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), Vietnam surpassed China as a supplier of footwear for Germany-based Adidas in 2017 in the multinational corporation’s years-long shift of sourcing. The country, in 2017, made 44 percent of Adidas’ footwear volume while Chinese factories produced 19 percent, declining from around 30 percent in 2012.
Adidas has been shifting sourcing from China to Vietnam over the past five years, and the Southeast Asian country boasted of a steady increase in orders placed by the company during the period. By September, Vietnam’s leather and shoe exports were estimated to have reached $11.9 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 10.5 percent.
The nation has become the second-largest footwear exporter to the United States, with around 404 million pairs of shoes shipped to that market by September, only behind China.
