At present, as the global textile industry landscape is being reshaped, industrial transfer is becoming a key factor driving the development of the industry. Vietnam, once a hot land in Asia that hosted a large amount of textile production capacity, is now also embarking on an outward "migration" path due to its own development constraints. The transfer path and the logic behind it are outlining a new picture of the global layout of the textile industry.
From taking over and transferring to "leaving" outward
For a long time, Vietnam has been a popular area for the transfer of China's textile production capacity. Now, the Vietnamese textile industry itself has also embarked on the path of transferring production capacity outward. Vu Duc Giang, the president of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas), stated at a press conference that the association's strategy is to encourage textile enterprises to invest overseas, which is driven by the huge pressure of labor transfer faced by Vietnam's textile and garment industry. At present, the wages of textile workers in Vietnam have risen significantly in recent years, but there is still a labor shortage of nearly 500,000 in the industry.
The root cause of the labor transfer and shortage in Vietnam's textile industry is similar to that in China - the textile industry has a high labor intensity and a small number of practitioners. Vietnam is not short of labor force, but due to fierce competition for employment, the textile industry is in a disadvantaged position. On the one hand, the labor intensity in the electronics manufacturing industry is lower. Workers are prone to job-hopping after getting familiar with the environment, and the turnover rate rises. On the other hand, with the development of the Internet, platform economy and service industry, Vietnamese people are increasingly reluctant to work in factories to endure hardships. Even if they do, they avoid textile factories. This is not an isolated case. The process of global textile production capacity transfer indicates that under the diversified development of the economy and society, labor shortage is an inevitable phenomenon in regional development.
The transfer direction of Vietnam's textile industry and the "attractiveness" of Egypt
Vietnam's textile industry is targeting markets such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Myanmar when going global. These are the strongholds of Vietnam's textile and garment industry with strong international competitiveness. Although the number of Vietnamese textile and garment companies "going global" is still small and not yet a trend, there are some pioneering cases. For example, Song Hồng Clothing Company of Vietnam has set up a joint venture factory in Egypt. The factory is divided into two phases. 800 workers will be needed by the end of 2025, and 1,600 workers will be hired starting from 2027. The total scale is about 2,500 workers and 45 sewing threads.
Egypt has become a popular choice for Vietnam's textile industry to go global and for Chinese textile industry investment. Lutai Textile has invested 385 million US dollars to build an intelligent factory, Caidie Textile has invested 60 million US dollars to build an environmentally friendly clothing factory, and Zhejiang Hengsheng has invested 70 million US dollars to layout dyeing and printing as well as clothing manufacturing... Egypt has a population of over 100 million. It enjoys advantages such as tariffs and high-quality raw materials, and is close to the markets of Europe and America. In recent years, its textile industry has developed rapidly.
According to the Egyptian Garment Export Council (AECE), the export value of garments in the first four months of 2025 increased by 22% year-on-year to 1.028 billion US dollars. The United States was the largest export destination, followed by Europe. Egypt aims to increase its garment exports by 35% by the end of 2025 and double them by 2031. The Egyptian government will also collaborate with private enterprises to build two comprehensive textile industrial cities in Minya Province and Fayoum Province, each covering an area of 5.5 million square meters. It is expected to accommodate over 600 factories and have a total investment of 3 billion US dollars, contributing to the development of the textile and garment industry and securing a position in the global industrial chain. However, historical experience and economic laws show that Egypt is unlikely to be the ultimate target for the global textile industry's transfer. When the economy and society develop to a certain level, the industry will move out again.
From the current outward shift from Vietnam to the rise of emerging markets such as Egypt, the story of the textile industry's transfer continues. In the future, with the economic and social development of various countries and the adjustment of industrial policies, the global layout of the textile industry will continue to evolve. This continuous industrial migration will also continuously drive the industry to seek new opportunities amid challenges, reshape the competitive landscape in the flow, and inject a steady stream of development momentum into the global textile economy.
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