Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh takes a group photo with representatives of the businesses whose products have been recognised as the National Brand in 2022. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)

As Vietnam is extensively integrating into the world economy, domestic businesses are leveraging their advantages to build strong brands both domestically and abroad. After 78 years of establishment, Garment 10 Corporation (Garco 10) has been honored as a national brand six times and gained its foothold in the international market.

Than Duc Viet, Garco 10’s Director General, said that his company has always been one of Vietnam’s leading fashion and garment firms.

“When customers arrive at the airport, they immediately think about Garco 10 to fulfill orders from major fashion brands in the US, Europe, and Japan. Domestically since the early 1990s, we’ve built the Garco 10 fashion brand according to international quality criteria, with the styles and designs in line with the Vietnamese taste and price,” said Viet.

Like Garco 10, many other Vietnamese enterprises have made progress in building and developing their brands to improve their competitiveness domestically and globally.

According to brand evaluation consultancy Brand Finance, Vietnam’s national brand grew 102% in the 2019-2023 period. The national brand value in 2023 was worth almost 500 billion USD, up 15.6% against 2022. It has continuously grown in double digits over the past five years, and now ranks 33rd of the top 121 strong national brands globally.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan (Photo: VNA)

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, the Vietnam national brand has drawn special attention from and confirmed its reputation among businesses, management agencies, and domestic and foreign consumers.

“Localities, associations, and businesses developing products, goods and service brands will undoubtedly increase the pride and attraction of Vietnam and its people. It promotes awareness of the close relationships between the national brand, product brands, and corporate brands to improve its national competitiveness,” said Tan.

Many Vietnamese businesses have applied digital technology and management science to improve productivity and product quality in accordance with the national brand program.

But the Vietnamese economy is facing an unsustainable export strategy, international trade disputes over trademarks that are beyond the resettlement capacity of one business, one industry, or one locality, and an unclear shift in export structure towards increasing its processing industry and reducing the proportion of raw materials and low added-value products.

Hoang Minh Chien, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stressed the need to find out distinctive and core values.

“By developing strong brands with improved product value, we’ll help increase the share of domestic businesses in Vietnam’s total export turnover,” said Chien, adding, “In addition, we’ll further communication for the National Brand Program and for the products that meet the program’s criteria. This will benefit Vietnam’s foreign trade and national competitiveness.”