In this episode, Kunle chats with Chris Walker of Vietnam Insider. Chris has been working in the Vietnam Garment Industry since 2008. His expertise is advising established fashion businesses and start-ups that want to leverage the low-cost of manufacturing in Vietnam. Tune in as Chris drops everything you need to know to manufacture apparel in Vietnam

Covered Topics:

• Vietnam’s Apparel Attraction
• The Essential Steps to Note
• Learning About Fabrics
• The Basics of Quality Control
• Understanding MOQ
• Vietnam’s Business Environment

Podcast Show Notes:

• 01:26 – Get The Ultimate Guide for Crushing Holiday Revenue Targets at Klaviyo
• 03:14 – Today’s Guest: Chris Walker
  • Chris advises fashion startups
• 04:48 – The attraction in Vietnam’s apparel
  • A good hand and attention to detail
  • Detail vs faster production
• 05:52 – 3 Essential Steps to Note
  • Know what you want
  • Communicate what you want – Chris talks about tech packs
    • Tech packs are contracts between the designer and the company
  • Learn about making tech packs for specificity
• 17:48 – Learning about fabrics
  • Don’t expect factories to educate you
  • Look locally and ask salespeople questions
• 20:47 – The Basics of Quality Control
  • What can go wrong will go wrong
  • QC as checks and balance
  • You need a checklist prepared in advance
  • A good factory has an internal QC
• 25:29 – The role of 3rd party QC
  • The usual rate at $300 per day
• 26:37 – Chris’ book, Garment Production for Fashion Startups
  • AQL: Acceptable Quality Limit
  • Pivot88, a software that allows you to check QC real-time
• 29:30 – Understanding the MOQ
  • Manufacturing: high volume & low price
  • At times, factories aren’t even making a profit
  • A standard of at least 1,000 pcs per color
• 35:07 – Looking at Vietnam
  • Very positive business environment
  • Orders > Factories
• 37:56 – Trade shows you should check out
  • Shanghai Intertextile Tradeshow
  • VTG (Vietnam Textile & Garment)
• 42:34 – 3 Groups of Factories
  • Foreign factories managed the foreign way
  • Foreign factories managed the Vietnamese way
  • Vietnamese factories managed the Vietnamese way
• 46:27 – Check about Chris’ books on Amazon.com

Topic Takeaways:

• Make sure you do your own research before inquiring to manufacturers.
• Everything in garment production should be specific.
• Remember to understand why there’s a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) in place.

Tweetable Quotes:

“What can go wrong will go wrong.”

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