VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese fashion brands have got worn out in the rivalry with the word’s famous brands -- to scramble the cake worth $3 billion.

The “localization” pricing policy and the continued big sale campaigns recently have made foreign famous fashion brands become the direct rivals to domestic brands.

In the past, foreign famous fashion brands were never the direct competitors for domestic ones, because foreign and domestic producers targeted quite different market segments. While foreign luxurious brands aimed the high income earners, domestic manufacturers targeted popular customers.

Three years ago, a violent war broke out among domestic brands, which all targeted the young customers, namely Ninomaxx of Thoi Trang Viet (Viet Fashion), Blue Exchange (Xanh Co Ban Fashion Company), Foci (Nguyen Tam Fashion Company) and PT 2000 (Pham Tuong 2000 Company).

Within just three years, the domestic brands have developed their networks strongly, by setting up shops on the most advantageous positions on main roads and at shopping malls.

However, the face of the market has later changed a lot with the presence of foreign brands GAP, Lee, Levis, Mango and Giordano. The foreign big guys have been making their presence at nearly all big shopping malls such as: Vincom Center, Crescent Mall, Bitexco Financial, Parkson Hung VUong, or Saigon Center, and have their shops set up on the main roads  in the central area of HCM City.

Being the world’s famous brands, the branded goods tend to become cheaper. The T-shirts with Levis, Mango, or Giordano have the selling prices just a little bit higher than the domestic products of these kinds.

The good pricing policies and the famous brands both have the foreign fashion brands become the dominants in the market, especially in the market segment for the youth. As a result, the domestic brands have been “dislodged” from their positions, while they have to relocate the shops to the “second-class areas,” i.e. the places near the central areas or the places in other provinces and cities.

In 2004, Mai Son Company Ltd officially brought Mango fashion brand to Vietnam, and it has been succeeding with the plan.

In 2007, with the investment capital of $5 million poured by Mekong Capital, an investment fund, Mai Son developed its network rapidly with 11 shops in the two biggest cities of Hanoi and HCM City.

Just one year after Mango set its foot in Vietnam, Levis -- another world’s well- known fashion brand was also brought into Vietnam by Thanh Bac Thoi Trang Company which acts as the exclusive distributor.

In April 2011, the US fashion brand GAP opened its first shop in Vietnam at Vincom Center in HCM City. One year later, the second shop was opened in Hanoi.

The presence of many world famous brands in Vietnam has made the domestic market more bustling.

Currently, Levis brand jeans made by Vietnamese enterprises for export to the US market which have the FOB prices of $12-15. Meanwhile, the jeans products with similar materials and design which bear Vietnamese brands, have been selling very slowly when they have to compete with Levis.

According to Nguyen Hong Ha, Marketing Director of Thanh Bac Thoi Trang Company, Levis’ fashion shop system has been organized in a 3-level model which aims to satisfy the diversified demand of different classes of customers.

Levis not only offers the luxurious products priced at over VND2 million per product, it also has the products with the selling prices of between VND300,000-1 million.

DNSG