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To source products from Vietnam, focus on categories Vietnam actually specializes in (textiles, wooden goods, furniture, bags, and shoes), find factories through Google, the Vietnamese Yellow Pages, trade shows, LinkedIn, and customs databases like ImportGenius, then expect to run a more proactive outreach process than you would in China because most Vietnamese factories do not have dedicated sales staff. Plan on roughly $20,000 in minimum capital for a first textile order and MOQs around 500 to 1,000 units per style.
In this episode of the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, I sat down with Jim Kennemer, founder of Cosmos Sourcing, who has helped clients source more than $100 million worth of product from China and Vietnam. Jim moved to Vietnam in 2014 and now has a bilingual team on the ground in Binh Duong province, right outside Ho Chi Minh City.
Below is the full guide he walked me through, including which products to source from Vietnam over China, how to actually find and vet a factory, real MOQs by category, and how his flat-fee sourcing model at Cosmos Sourcing works.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Vietnam is roughly the same price to 10% cheaper than China now, and the real savings show up when your product hits a China tariff list.
- Vietnam specializes in textiles, clothing, wooden goods, furniture, bags, backpacks, purses, and shoes.
- There is no Alibaba equivalent in Vietnam. Use Google, the Vietnamese Yellow Pages, ImportGenius, LinkedIn, trade shows, and Zalo.
- Expect MOQs around 500 units for bags, 200 units for handmade or premium items, and 1,000 units per style for clothing.
- Vietnamese factories often reply through an engineer, not a salesperson, so expect direct, in-and-out communication.
- Budget roughly $20,000 in minimum capital for a starter textile order out of Vietnam.
- Hire a third-party inspection company like QIMA, Tesco, or Vietnam Inspection Service (roughly $300 to $400 per visit) to vet any factory before you wire money.
Why source products from Vietnam instead of China
You should source from Vietnam instead of China when your product falls under a US tariff list, when you want more political stability, or when your category (wooden goods, textiles, furniture, bags, shoes) is one Vietnam does exceptionally well. Post-2017 tariffs, this is the biggest lever, because Vietnam pricing usually lands anywhere from equal to 10% cheaper than China, and the tariff differential is where the real math flips.
Vietnam also managed COVID with fewer full lockdowns than China and hit roughly 80% vaccination coverage within two months of vaccine availability, according to Jim, which meant less supply-chain disruption. Big brands have followed the pattern. Patagonia, North Face, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, and Lululemon all manufacture heavily in Vietnam.
Foreign ownership is also easier. Unlike China, foreign companies and individuals can own factories outright in Vietnam, so you will find Japanese-owned, South Korean-owned, Indonesian-owned, Danish-owned, and French-owned factories operating there, often combining Japanese-style efficiency with lower Vietnamese labor costs.
Which products Vietnam specializes in
Vietnam specializes in textiles, clothing, wooden goods (furniture, rattan, bamboo, teak, acacia, rubberwood), bags of every kind (leather, canvas, backpacks, purses), shoes, and metal goods like fasteners, bolts, nuts, and screws. Wood in particular is Jim’s top recommendation because Vietnam is a tropical country with plentiful plantation forests and very high-quality tropical hardwoods.
Bags are Vietnam’s clearest textile win. The same factories that make Patagonia and North Face backpacks and Tory Burch and Michael Kors purses will make yours, using both mature high-volume production lines and newer technology.
Categories to avoid or think twice about include low-MOQ small orders across most categories, electronics of any complexity (China is still stronger), and any OEM electronic build. Shoes used to be great for small orders but post-COVID the shoe factories have pushed MOQs up to several thousand units minimum.
What MOQs to expect when sourcing from Vietnam
Expect Vietnamese factory MOQs in the range of 200 to 1,000 units for most categories, higher for shoes. Handmade or premium items run lowest. Assembly-line categories run highest.
Bags cluster around 500 units per style for a simple design. High-end handmade items, like the ultralight hiking backpack Jim’s team produced (retail near $1,000, cost around $200), can go as low as 200 units.
Clothing MOQs typically run 1,000 units per style per size, with some factories going to 2,000 units for a broader style mix. Handmade leather briefcases and luxury purses can start smaller because there is no assembly-line setup required.
How to find a supplier in Vietnam
To find a supplier in Vietnam, use Google (unlike China, it works), the Vietnamese Yellow Pages, LinkedIn, trade shows, and customs databases like ImportGenius or Panjiva to pull importer/exporter records. There is no Alibaba equivalent for Vietnam, so you have to run outreach yourself.
Jim’s team also gets a lot of leads simply by being on the ground in Binh Duong province, next to Ho Chi Minh City’s industrial zone, where local events and physical proximity produce leads that never make it online. If you are not on the ground, you are relying on cold outreach.
Expect a hit rate of roughly 10 to 15 responses per 50 factories contacted. Vietnamese factories are less proactive about chasing new business than Chinese factories, so you have to be more persistent, use multiple channels (email, WhatsApp, Zalo, LinkedIn, phone), and follow up three or four times per factory.
How to write the first outreach email to a Vietnamese factory
Your first outreach email to a Vietnamese factory should be a formal request for quote (RFQ) that names your country, states your product and target order quantity, confirms you have design files and product spec sheets ready, and asks for a firm quote and lead time. Do not send the files in the first email. Just confirm you have them.
Jim’s exact framing looks like: “I am so-and-so, we are a US-based buyer looking to produce X women’s dresses. We have the design files and product spec sheets ready. Are you able to quote us for an order of 1,000 units?”
Factories will not take you seriously if you tell them you plan to develop the specs later. Signaling that you have real files behind the request is what gets a serious response, and the RFQ format is how professional buyers ask everywhere.
How to vet a Vietnam factory before you wire money
To vet a Vietnam factory before you wire money, hire a third-party inspection company like QIMA, Tesco, or Vietnam Inspection Service for a roughly $300 to $400 factory visit, and cross-check the factory’s business license and banking status through the government-run Vietnam Credit service. That inspection is cheap compared to the sample fee you are about to pay and the production run that follows.
The inspection company will check business registration, equipment, machinery, prior order history in your product category, and whether the factory has actually made products similar to yours. If you are doing pre-production, they will grade the setup pass/fail on every criterion.
Also confirm relevant certifications yourself. ISO 9001 is the baseline, and wooden goods need Lacey Act compliance, a certificate of origin, and ideally FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. Textiles have carcinogen restrictions, and any category can require ASTM certifications depending on the destination market.
What questions to ask when vetting a Vietnam factory
The three questions to ask when vetting a Vietnam factory are: (1) do you have experience exporting to my country, (2) which industry certifications do you hold, and (3) can you produce the specific certificates of origin, testing, or compliance my product category requires. If they cannot answer confidently, walk away or hire an inspection company to answer for you.
Ask for their client list too, because most reputable export factories will tell you who they have shipped to. Big-brand names on that list are a strong trust signal, and it doubles as social proof for your own compliance team later.
Payment terms are almost always in US dollars. Vietnamese bank accounts can hold foreign currencies, and given inflation on the dong, factories love USD.
How to communicate with Vietnam factories after first contact
Communicate with Vietnam factories using email as the initial channel, then Zalo (Vietnam’s WhatsApp equivalent) or WhatsApp for day-to-day updates, and LinkedIn for reaching decision-makers when other channels stall. Jim’s team runs a “full court press” across every channel to get an initial quote out of promising factories.
The tone will feel different from China. Many Vietnamese factories do not staff dedicated salespeople, so your first contact might be an engineer who checks email once a week between production shifts.
The upside is that engineer contact is often faster and more accurate on technical questions, because you are talking to the person who actually makes the product. The downside is that engineers do not woo you the way a Chinese salesperson does, and some Western buyers mistake that for disinterest.
Trade-offs of sourcing from Vietnam versus China
The biggest trade-off of sourcing from Vietnam versus China is that Vietnam requires far more proactive outreach and factory hunting, but rewards you with lower tariff exposure, higher-quality textiles and wood, and easier foreign ownership rules. China is easier for first-time buyers because Alibaba puts thousands of factories in front of you in minutes.
Vietnam has no equivalent to Alibaba Trade Assurance, so you cannot outsource vendor vetting to a marketplace. Vietnamese buyers historically do not trust Chinese-based platforms, so those never took off locally.
On production, Vietnam is very consistent once you are in a working relationship. There is still a workforce disruption around Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year, same date as Chinese New Year), because workers sign one-year contracts that end at Tet, but Jim rates it as less severe than the post-Chinese-New-Year workforce churn he saw in China.
How much capital you need to start sourcing from Vietnam
You need roughly $20,000 in minimum capital to place a first textile production order out of Vietnam. That covers a real MOQ, sample fees, initial deposit, freight, and duties for a starter clothing or bag run at typical Vietnamese MOQs.
For lower-cost handmade or premium categories with lower MOQs (200 units of a high-end backpack, small runs of handmade leather goods), you can go in for less. Higher-volume clothing runs of 1,000 to 2,000 units per style push you higher.
For first-time buyers with less capital, China is often still easier because MOQs are lower across more categories and marketplaces make vendor discovery essentially free. Vietnam is the better move once you have a proven product and want to scale off China tariff exposure.
How Cosmos Sourcing works and what it costs
Cosmos Sourcing charges a flat fee starting at $1,500 USD per product category (one factory), with a pro tier around $2,000 USD when you need certification work or more complex sourcing. Unlike commission-based sourcing agents, Cosmos gives you the full contact details of every factory it introduces you to and lets you work directly with the factory.
Jim runs it flat-fee for a specific reason. When he tried a commission model in Vietnam, factories pushed back because Vietnamese factories do not trust middlemen the way Chinese factories tolerate them. Vietnamese factories expect to deal with the end client, so Jim’s structure aligns with local norms.
The team also handles factory visits, referrals to freight forwarders and inspection companies, and sample checks when clients ship samples to their office. For most product categories, a single Cosmos engagement covers multiple SKUs made by the same factory (for example, 10 women’s dress styles produced in one clothing factory count as one project).
Other Southeast Asia sourcing countries to watch
The Southeast Asian sourcing countries worth watching after Vietnam are Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan, with Bangladesh and Pakistan lower on Jim’s list. Cosmos is actively looking at expanding into the first four.
Taiwan is already mature at the high end. TSMC is the biggest microchip factory in the world, and Taiwan handles very high-precision projects like LED casings for airplane parts.
Indonesia is strong for shoes. Thailand is worth a look for clothing. Bangladesh is a textile powerhouse but Jim personally does not trust the supply chain governance there, which is a reasonable concern given the industry’s track record.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to source products from Vietnam than from China?
Vietnam is roughly the same price to about 10% cheaper than China on comparable products, and the real savings appear when your product is on a US tariff list against China. Vietnam labor costs have risen significantly since 2014 when Jim was seeing 30% to 40% savings.
What products should I source from Vietnam?
Source textiles, clothing, wooden goods, furniture, bags, backpacks, purses, shoes at scale, and metal fasteners from Vietnam. The country’s tropical hardwoods (teak, acacia, bamboo, rubberwood) and its huge cut-and-sew factories are its clearest strengths.
How do I find factories in Vietnam without Alibaba?
Use Google (it works in Vietnam), the Vietnamese Yellow Pages, LinkedIn, trade shows, and paid customs data services like ImportGenius or Panjiva. Expect to contact 50 factories to get 10 to 15 responses, and expect to follow up multiple times through email, WhatsApp, Zalo, and phone.
What is a typical MOQ when sourcing from Vietnam?
Typical Vietnam MOQs are around 500 units for bags, 1,000 units per style per size for clothing, 200 units for handmade or premium items, and several thousand units for most current shoe factories. High-value handmade items can start smaller because no assembly line has to be set up.
How much capital do I need to source products from Vietnam?
You need roughly $20,000 in minimum starter capital for a first textile order out of Vietnam, covering MOQ, samples, deposit, freight, and duties. Lower-cost handmade categories with lower MOQs can start below that, and clothing runs of 1,000 to 2,000 units push higher.
How do I vet a Vietnam factory before I place an order?
Hire a third-party inspection company like QIMA, Tesco, or Vietnam Inspection Service for roughly $300 to $400 to visit the factory in person, and cross-check the factory’s business registration and banking status through the government-run Vietnam Credit service. That upfront investment is trivial compared to the deposit you are about to wire.
What is Zalo and why do Vietnam factories use it?
Zalo is Vietnam’s dominant local messaging app, roughly equivalent to WhatsApp or WeChat, and it is the primary chat channel most Vietnamese factories use for daily communication. If a factory does not respond to email, adding them on Zalo is often the fastest way to reach a real person.
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