The Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO) has invited Skechers, a major footwear manufacturer in California, to study the possibility of investing in the country’s northern province of Hai Duong, according to association chairman Nguyen Duc Thuan, who is also the chairman of the TBS Group based in the southern province of Binh Duong.This project may need 20,000 workers, a report in a Vietnamese news website said, reports Fibre2Fashion.A rival to Nike and Adidas, Skechers wants to shift investment from China to Vietnam and its investment might be between $700 million and $1 billion, said Thuan.Vietnam sold more than one billion pairs of shoes and sandals in the global market last year, ranking second behind China, which sold 13.8 billion pairs. It raked in $18 billion from footwear and handbag exports last year.Idea Ltd, part of Taiwan’s Pou Chen Group, the largest branded athletic and casual footwear manufacturer in the world, is constructing a factory in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Tao Industrial Zone, according to a Vietnamese news website report.
