In today's chaotic, every changing market, suppliers are scouring the world markets looking for new opportunities to growth their business, or more likely, to make up for orders lost in other markets.

At Global Sources (Hong Kong, October 27-30), suppliers told Inside Fashion that right now the EU and Japan were the best markets.

"At the moment, Japan market is our fastest growing market," said  Lisa Wang, sales manager at Wuxi Rising Textile Co., Ltd.

“We were experiencing some challenges in the US market. At the moment, the EU and Japan are still doing pretty well," added  Content Chen, general manager at Changshu Life Home Textile Industry Co., Ltd.

Another shift is that big volume orders are moving out of China and into Vietnam, while at the same time, Chinese manufacturers are becoming more adept at making those highly requested smaller orders of more complex garments.
“We definitely see more and more buyers moving their volume business to Vietnam,” said Pham Thi Ngoc Quyen, deputy director at Como Co., Ltd.

Yet while they are happy to pick up the big orders that are leaving China, Vietnamese manufacturers are also looking to move out of the price-sensitive sector.

“We are getting away from the price driven businesses. We don’t want to be the cheapest one. We want to upgrade our product and service and be able to provide buyers with a total package,” Nikki Wang, vice president at Motong Textile Co., Ltd., told Inside Fashion.

Staying ahead of the competition also means continual innovation.

"We plan to add more performance product and expand our design team. We have to keep coming up with products with new selling points, otherwise, we will be pushed out of market in a few years. Nowadays, nobody is safe forever,” said Li Yingmao, managing director at Xiamen Light Industrial Products Import & Export Co., Ltd.

Vietnam Becomes the Big Order Hotspot