Billion Rise Knitting has opened the first phase of a US$100 million vertically integrated knitting facility in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, with a build-out that will take the site to 100 million metres of fabric per year by the third quarter of 2029.

The Hong Kong-headquartered company, which supplies knitted fabrics to sportswear, activewear, swimwear and intimate apparel brands, said the 110,000 square-metre first phase is already operational. Two further phases will follow: phase two, adding knitting, dyeing and printing lines, is scheduled for Q3 2027, and the final phase for Q3 2029. The full campus will cover approximately 320,000 square metres.

What does the build-out deliver?

The investment establishes a second full-scale production base to sit alongside Billion Rise's established site in Qingyuan, China. The Vietnam complex is fitted out with warp and weft knitting, dyeing, digital printing, flat-bed printing, heat-transfer printing, stentering and finishing — a process stack that mirrors the Chinese operation.

How does the new factory compare to the China base?

Equipment specification is "comparable" to Qingyuan, with the same vertical integration from fabric development through to commercial production. The plant carries an advanced wastewater treatment system and rooftop solar installations — sustainability infrastructure that, under Vietnam's tightening industrial effluent rules, increasingly determines licensing for textile finishing operations of this scale.

"After a decade of investment in developing the facility and building it to the same high standards our customers expect from us, we're confident Vietnam will deliver the quality, technical expertise and consistency our brand partners require," the company said.

Why Vietnam, and which brands are already moving?

JP Brogan, US managing director of sales and marketing at Billion Rise, told the trade that major American activewear and intimate apparel labels are "increasingly" looking to Vietnam as an alternative sourcing destination, citing the country's base in high-volume performance fabric knitting and its downstream garment assembly capacity. Brogan did not name individual customers, and the shift is described in market terms rather than as confirmed buyer-supplier commitments.

For European buyers, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement offers preferential access subject to rules of origin and phased tariff reductions — a route that, in the current EU textile customs environment, makes Vietnam-origin fabric more competitive than comparable China-sourced volumes for qualifying end products.

Charles Chen, CEO and owner, framed the move in flexibility terms: "We're pleased to give our customers greater sourcing flexibility with the addition of our Vietnam operation to our established manufacturing base in Qingyuan, China."

How does this fit the sourcing pattern?

The build-out is a country-diversification play rather than a China exit. Billion Rise retains Qingyuan and has no public timeline to scale it back. The new capacity, however, lets brand customers split knit-fabric sourcing between the two countries — an option that has gained weight since US Section 301 tariffs reshaped the cost math on Chinese knit imports and EU due-diligence rules tightened scrutiny of single-country textile supply.

On materials strategy, Brogan added: "Our investment in Vietnam goes beyond the physical facility. We've also dedicated resources in materials strategy expertise across our global team along with AI and 3D visualisation tools that help brands identify white space, build key material franchises, and quickly visualise new opportunities."

Where will the new line be shown?

The Vietnam operation and its latest fabric developments will appear at four October trade events:

• Performance Days, Munich, 13–15 October
• Interfilière Shanghai, 13–14 October
• Texfuture Tokyo / Performance Days Tokyo, 21–22 October
• Vietnam Hanoi Textile & Garment Industry Expo, 21–22 October

What sourcing decision does this force?

Billion Rise's Thanh Hoa capacity is now in the running for any brand mid-2026 tender that asks for Vietnam-origin or China+1 knit fabric at performance-grade volumes. With phase two adding capacity only in late 2027, the 110,000-square-metre first-phase footprint is the production slot buyers can actually place against for the next 18 months.