Nike’s chief sustainability officer, Noel Kinder, told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a recent meeting on the touchline of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that the company is committed to making an investment and expanding production in Vietnam. Kinder told Chinh that more than 100 Nike factories in the country had reinstated output after a COVID caused halt.
According to a news agency report, Kinder told the prime minister that the current situation in Vietnam has significantly improved and that the company plans to expand processes there.
Vietnamese authorities recently refuted rumours that Nike considered moving output out of Vietnam.
“The complex COVID-19 advancements in Vietnam have impacted manufacturing of enterprises in the apparel and outerwear sectors, and Nike has moved a number of orders to other countries.” “However, there was no evidence that Nike was shifting production away from Vietnam,” said Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, vice chairwoman and general secretary of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (LEFASO).
According to Xuan, 88 of Nike’s 112 factories in Vietnam are located in the Southeast region, where many of the best-selling Nike branded sneaker products are manufactured.