China or Vietnam — or both? TK Wang breaks down exactly which sourcing market suits your UK brand, product category, and order volume in 2026.
In summary: For most UK brands, China remains the go-to for volume, variety, and cost — but Vietnam is winning in textiles, footwear, furniture, and electronics assembly. The right answer depends on your product category, order volume, lead time tolerance, and ethical priorities. This post gives you a clear decision framework so you can stop guessing and start sourcing in the right place.
You've done your research. You've heard the whispers — "China's getting expensive," "Vietnam is the new factory of the world," "everyone's moving to Vietnam." And now you're staring at a supplier list wondering: where on earth do I actually order from?
I've been running sourcing projects from both countries for British brands for years, and I'll be straight with you: there's no universal answer. The right choice depends on what you're making, how much you're ordering, how quickly you need it, and — increasingly — how your customers feel about it.
What I can give you is a proper decision framework. So let's get into it.
China is the world's largest manufacturing nation by a considerable margin. It has unmatched infrastructure, a vast supplier ecosystem, and decades of experience producing virtually every product category imaginable. For UK businesses, China has long been the default — and for most categories, it still is.
Vietnam, on the other hand, has spent the past decade building serious manufacturing capability — particularly in labour-intensive industries like garments, footwear, furniture, and electronics assembly. Lower labour costs, combined with growing geopolitical interest (especially post-Trump tariff turbulence in the US), have made Vietnam an increasingly attractive alternative.
But here's the thing UK brands often miss: Vietnam doesn't compete with China across the board. It competes in specific categories where labour cost is the dominant factor — and understanding that distinction is the key to making the right call for your business.
If you want to understand how a sourcing agent actually navigates both markets on your behalf, our guide on the role of sourcing agents in China is a good place to start.
Vietnam absolutely excels in certain categories. If you're sourcing any of the following for the UK market, Vietnam deserves serious consideration.
Garments and textiles — Vietnam is now one of the world's top apparel exporters. Labour costs are 30–50% lower than China's coastal factories, which makes a meaningful difference on labour-intensive products like clothing, sportswear, and uniforms. Add in the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), which eliminates or reduces tariffs on most Vietnamese goods, and the maths can look very attractive.
Footwear — Major global brands have been manufacturing shoes in Vietnam for decades. The country has a deep cluster of footwear factories, particularly around Ho Chi Minh City. If you're building a footwear brand, Vietnam is hard to overlook.
Furniture and homewares — Vietnam produces excellent solid wood, rattan, and bamboo furniture. For UK home brands looking for a point of difference from mass-produced Chinese flat-pack, Vietnamese furniture manufacturers offer quality that can justify a premium retail price.
Electronics assembly — Some electronics assembly has migrated from China to Vietnam, though complex components still originate in China. If you're doing high-volume assembly of relatively simple electronics, Vietnam is worth exploring.
Sourcing Hack #1: Use the UKVFTA to your advantage.
The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement reduces or eliminates import duties on a wide range of Vietnamese goods entering the UK. Before choosing between China and Vietnam, ask your sourcing agent to check the duty differential for your specific product commodity code. On high-volume orders, the saving can be substantial — and it's money that goes straight to your margin.
Despite the Vietnam headlines, China remains dominant in the majority of product categories — and for good reason. Here's where China wins, usually comprehensively.
Anything requiring complex components or tooling — China has the deepest supply chain in the world. If your product requires custom injection-moulded parts, proprietary electronics, or sophisticated tooling, China has the supplier ecosystem to support it. Vietnam simply doesn't have the same density of component manufacturers and precision engineering capability yet.
Lower MOQs — Chinese factories are generally more flexible on minimum order quantities than Vietnamese ones, which tend to be larger-scale operations optimised for high-volume production. If you're a UK startup or scaling brand that needs to order 200–500 units, China is almost always the better starting point.
Variety and speed of product development — Want to go from concept to sample in four weeks? China. The factory ecosystem, the raw material availability, and the sheer density of suppliers make product development faster in China than almost anywhere else on earth. We walk through how OEM and ODM manufacturing actually work for UK businesses in this OEM guide.
Cost at scale for non-labour-intensive products — Once you're ordering at meaningful volume in categories where labour cost is less dominant (hard goods, electronics, machinery parts, packaging), China's cost advantage over Vietnam becomes significant again. Lower raw material costs, more competitive component pricing, and decades of process optimisation all add up.
Almost every niche product category — Whatever obscure product you're trying to source, there's almost certainly a factory cluster in China that specialises in exactly that. Vietnam's manufacturing base, while growing impressively, is still concentrated in a narrower range of categories.
Sourcing Hack #2: Don't assume Vietnam is automatically cheaper.
I've seen UK brands make this mistake more than once. They see headlines about Vietnam's lower labour costs, assume everything will be cheaper, then get quoted higher prices than their existing Chinese suppliers. Why? Because Vietnamese factories often have higher MOQs, less mature supply chains, and occasionally less price competition in their local market. Always get comparable quotes from both countries before deciding.
Labour cost in Vietnam is genuinely lower than China — approximately 30–50% lower in coastal manufacturing provinces. For labour-intensive products (garments with lots of stitching, handmade furniture, intricate assembly), this is a real advantage that shows up in your unit cost.
However, the picture changes when you factor in the full landed cost picture.
Raw material access — China often produces the raw materials that Vietnamese factories import. Cotton, synthetic fibres, electronic components, metals — Vietnam frequently sources these from China. So the "Made in Vietnam" label sometimes includes significant Chinese input costs already built into the factory price.
Freight to the UK — Shipping from Vietnam to the UK is slightly more complex and occasionally more expensive than from China's main export hubs (Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou), mainly because Vietnam's port infrastructure is still developing relative to China's massive, highly optimised export ports. The gap has been narrowing, but it still exists.
Import duties (UK side) — This is where the UKVFTA becomes relevant again. For qualifying Vietnamese-origin goods, you may pay lower UK import duty than on Chinese goods, particularly for textiles and garments. Our complete importing guide covers UK duty structures in detail.
For a comprehensive breakdown of what you'll actually pay when importing — including the costs UK businesses often miss — read our guide on how small businesses cut costs by sourcing directly.
Lead times from Vietnam to the UK are broadly comparable to China — around 25–35 days by sea freight. Sample production and product development timelines are where the difference becomes more noticeable.
In China, you can often get samples in 2–3 weeks for standard products, and factory response times are generally faster due to a more competitive, higher-density supplier landscape. In Vietnam, sample timelines of 4–6 weeks are more common, particularly for bespoke products.
If your business model depends on rapid product iteration or frequent new launches, this is worth factoring into your decision. The speed of Chinese manufacturing remains a genuine competitive advantage — and one that's easy to underestimate until you've experienced the relative slowness of some newer Vietnam operations.
Sourcing Hack #3: For truly fresh products, develop in China — then consider shifting production to Vietnam at scale.
This is a strategy used by experienced importers. Develop and sample in China — where the supplier density and development speed are unmatched — then assess whether shifting volume production to Vietnam makes sense once you've validated the product and know your volume. This gives you the best of both worlds: speed to market, and potential cost advantage at scale.
Increasingly, yes — and this is becoming the norm for sophisticated UK importers. The dual-sourcing strategy isn't just for large enterprises any more.
Here's a practical way to think about it: source from China when you need a wide variety of products, you're ordering lower volumes, you need custom tooling or components, you're in the early stages of product development, or your product category doesn't lend itself to labour cost savings.
Source from Vietnam when you're ordering high volumes of labour-intensive products (especially garments, footwear, or furniture), you're selling into a market sensitive to the "Made in China" label, or you're looking to take advantage of the UKVFTA duty savings.
Our White Label Package and Private Label Package both cover sourcing from both China and Vietnam. Our on-the-ground team operates in both countries, and we can run parallel quotes so you get a genuine like-for-like comparison before committing.
Also worth reading before you decide: our post on white label vs private label for UK businesses — because often the manufacturing country decision comes right after working out which commercial model suits your brand.
Sourcing Hack #4: Always ask your sourcing agent to give you factory options in BOTH countries for your product.
Don't commit to a country until you've seen real quotes from both. A good sourcing agent who operates in both markets should give you a genuine comparison on unit cost, MOQ, lead time, and quality standard. This is something we do as standard at Epic Sourcing — you might be surprised which direction the data points.
Still not sure? Here's a simple framework.
Start with China if: you're sourcing hard goods, electronics, or tools; your MOQ needs are under 500 units; you need fast product development; your product requires complex components; or you're in the early testing phase of a new product.
Start with Vietnam if: you're sourcing garments, footwear, or furniture at volume; labour cost is the dominant cost driver in your product; or duty savings under the UKVFTA make a meaningful difference to your landed cost.
Consider both if: you're building a brand with multiple SKUs across categories; you want supply chain resilience; or you're scaling and want to pressure-test your current supplier country choice with a real-world comparison.
If you're planning your Christmas stock as part of this decision — our Christmas product sourcing timing guide covers the exact timeline you need to be working to right now for seasonal orders from either country.
If you're not sure which category your product falls into, that's exactly what we tackle on a discovery call. Book a call with the Epic Sourcing team here — it's free, there's no pressure, and you'll leave with a clear recommendation.
In labour-intensive categories like garments, footwear, and furniture, Vietnam can be meaningfully cheaper — with labour costs 30–50% lower than Chinese coastal factories. For hard goods, electronics, and products requiring complex components, China is often more cost-competitive overall once raw material access, MOQ flexibility, and freight costs are factored in.
Yes. The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) reduces or eliminates import duties on a wide range of Vietnamese goods entering the UK market. The duty advantage is most significant for textiles, garments, and footwear. Check your product's commodity code against the UKVFTA tariff schedule to confirm the applicable rate.
Quality depends on the factory, not the country. Both China and Vietnam have excellent factories and poor ones. The key is proper supplier vetting, factory audits, and clear quality specifications — regardless of where you're sourcing. A good sourcing agent will conduct due diligence in either country before recommending a supplier.
Sea freight from Vietnam to the UK typically takes 25–35 days, broadly similar to shipping from China's major ports. Air freight is 5–7 days. The main logistical difference is that Vietnam's port infrastructure is less developed than China's, which can occasionally add complexity to freight bookings and transit times.
Yes. Epic Sourcing has on-the-ground teams and established supplier networks in both China and Vietnam. We regularly run parallel sourcing projects across both countries to give UK clients a genuine comparison before they commit. Whether you're exploring a dual-sourcing strategy or simply want to know which country is right for your product, get in touch here.
Vietnam is a genuine and growing option for UK brands sourcing from Asia — but it's not a replacement for China. It's a complementary option that makes sense for specific product categories, order volumes, and business strategies.
The smartest UK brands I work with are no longer asking "China or Vietnam?" — they're asking "which parts of my supply chain belong in China, and which belong in Vietnam?" That shift in thinking is where the real competitive advantage lives.
If you'd like an honest conversation about where your product should be sourced — and a no-nonsense comparison of your options — book a strategy call with the Epic team, or drop us a line at hello@epicsourcing.co.uk. We've run hundreds of sourcing projects across both countries for UK brands, and we'll give you a straight answer.
TK Wang, Founder & Director @ Epic Sourcing
