Textiles and footwear are two manufacturing sectors characterized by extensive supply chains, involving numerous actors and a large workforce, particularly female workers. These sectors also feature relatively specific working conditions, and certain production stages and input materials may have direct and significant environmental impacts. For these reasons, textiles and footwear are among the supply chains expected to be subject to heightened scrutiny during the enforcement of supply chain due diligence regulations in EU markets.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has even issued a dedicated guideline on due diligence in this sector, namely the “OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector”. Given that the CSDDD was developed with close reference to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, it is reasonable to expect that EU authorities and Member States may take into account this sector-specific OECD guidance when monitoring compliance in the textile and footwear industries.

Meanwhile, textiles and footwear are among Viet Nam’s key export sectors to the EU market.

According to the General Statistics Office, exports of textiles and footwear from Viet Nam to the EU during the period 2015-2024 accounted for an average of 20.8% of Viet Nam’s total exports to the EU. This group of products has also maintained stable growth, with average annual growth rates of 3.6% and 5.7%, respectively, over the past decade.

The EU is also one of the most important export destinations for Viet Nam’s textile and footwear industries. Specifically, according to the General Department of Customs, in 2024 the EU was the third-largest market for Viet Nam’s textile exports (after the United States and Japan) and the second-largest market for footwear exports (after the United States).

Figure: Viet Nam’s textile and footwear exports to the EU, 2015-2024　(Unit: USD billion)
 

Source: General Statistics Office - Ministry of Finance

Based on the above, business actors in Viet Nam participating in textile, garment and footwear supply chains exporting to the EU should give due consideration to supply chain due diligence requirements under the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the EU CSDDD, even though these regulations do not directly apply to Vietnamese enterprises nor have immediate effects on exports.

Source: Compiled by the TTWTO-VCCI Research Group

• Scope of Vietnamese suppliers potentially affected from the supply chain due diligence requirements of European markets
• Responsibility to comply with human rights and environmental standards of Vietnamese suppliers in the supply chain due diligence process
• Responsibility to implement certain measures of Vietnamese suppliers in the supply chain due diligence process
• Actors in textile, garment and footwear supply chains potentially affected by due diligence requirements