Recent sustainable trends in Vietnam's fashion supply chain

摘要

The integration of sustainable practices within the fashion supply chain has been one of the areas receiving increased attention due to global competition and stricter regulations. The concept of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) ensures that eco-friendly practices have been adopted by many global fashion brands. Fashion industries in developing countries such as Vietnam, one of the leading fashion manufacturing countries in South-East Asia, are under tremendous pressure to comply with sustainability norms. Therefore, this paper aims to review the recent trends in SSCM in Vietnam's fashion and retail industries. A four-step approach was adopted: collection of information through literature or data collection (Step 1), classification and codification (step 2), input of industry experts (Step 3) and analysis of the above three inputs (Step 4). The findings showed that although Vietnam is among the top five exporting countries of textiles and garments globally, the concept of a sustainable supply chain is new to many of the Vietnamese supply chain players. Four out of five stakeholders claimed that they are attempting to achieve sustainability by reducing environmental pollution, taking care of the labor force, and pursuing future sustainable materials as well as renewable energy resources. In addition, one of the stakeholders, the retailers, regularly focus on ethical practices in their sustainable sourcing. These practices help Vietnam to concurrently diminish its environmental impact and ensuing negative consequences as well as improve the country's social and economic sustainability. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.