Vietnam, July 7: When Vietnam's police raided a pair of nondescript warehouses in outer Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year, they discovered more than 23,000 pairs of slippers bearing the logos of Nike, Adidas, Crocs and Gucci.
Except those brands had nothing to do with the warehouses. The slippers were all counterfeits.
The raid, which led to the seizure of goods worth VND 2bn (£57,559; $76,053), was part of a crackdown on a black-market industry that has thrived in the public eye for decades.
Just 30km away, at a flea market in Ho Chi Minh City's tourist district, the same models of counterfeit slippers - imitations of those retailing for as much as $900 overseas - are being sold for as little as $30 a pair.
Displayed alongside them is a cornucopia of other fakes: "Chanel" handbags, "Prada" t-shirts and "Rolex" watches lining the racks.
Widely recognised as a global hub for cheap knockoffs of luxury goods, Vietnam is home to some of the biggest fake designer markets in the world.
Now, under mounting international pressure, authorities are on a crusade to rid the country of that reputation.
On 7 May, the government launched a nationwide crackdown on products and practices that violate intellectual property rights, including counterfeit goods, online piracy and trademark infringements.
This is not new: authorities in Vietnam perennially and publicly bust bootleg vendors to show that they are doing something about the country's ubiquitous shadow economies.
But in recent weeks the clampdown has intensified.
"Enforcement has become stricter," says Thanh Truc, a clothes vendor at a popular street market in Ho Chi Minh City's Saigon Square, who spoke on the condition that she is referred to by a pseudonym.
She has just sold a replica of a Loewe t-shirt, which usually retails at $500, for $17.
"Every now and then the authorities launch anti-counterfeit raids, but they usually focus on higher-value items such as luxury handbags or suitcases," she explains. "The market inspectors would come with camera crews, they'd confiscate goods from some shops, and then things gradually returned to normal." But not this time.
This crackdown is being fuelled by international forces - most notably, US President Donald Trump's trade war against countries thought to be harming America's interests.
In April, a report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative identified Vietnam as a "priority foreign country" due to its "persistent failure to resolve long-standing concerns about IP protection and enforcement" - the first time in 13 years that a nation has been hit with that designation.
Facing the threat of fresh tariffs, Vietnamese authorities pledged to increase IP violation busts by at least 20% in May compared to the same period last year.
One major battlefront was Saigon Square, where Thanh Truc works, and neighbouring Ben Thanh Market - sprawling bazaars that are known to be among Vietnam's biggest hubs for counterfeit goods.
In mid-May, after a series of surprise inspections, authorities confiscated counterfeit goods from the markets and issued fines totalling more than $19,000.
Yet local vendors, who have long since adapted to unwanted police attention, remain unfazed.
"Usually, before inspectors arrive, someone here blows a whistle to warn everyone," Thanh Truc explains. Even after the recent raid blitz, she adds, "business is still continuing".
"Some stores display fewer logo-branded items, but they still have stock in the back."
The supply chain for most of Vietnam's counterfeits can be traced back across its northern border into China, where they are manufactured.
Vietnamese wholesalers will select, buy and import products in bulk that they think can be easily sold in their local market, then distribute these to smaller businesses.
Such proximity to China has proven favourable for Vietnam's booming counterfeits industry. So has the fact that even prestigious European brands often rely on Asian manufacturing.
Whether it's leather that's pre-cut in China or stitching that's done in Vietnam, these materials and expertise are almost certainly channelled into the region's black market.
It's a tap that has proven difficult to turn off - but the Vietnamese government has heralded their recent sting operations as a success. In the last three weeks of May authorities reportedly handled more than 1,400 IP infringement cases.
While several market stalls have shuttered their operations, for others it's business as usual The US, however, has continued to tighten the screws.
In late May it launched an investigation to determine whether Vietnam's failure to stamp out IP violations was "unreasonable" and problematic for US commerce.
So Vietnamese authorities tightened screws of their own.
Source: Qatar Tribune
