ENVIROTHON 2021

Mode: Policy
Track: Sustainability
Team members:
1. Ngan, Van Ngoc Kim
Email: vanngockimngan@gmail.com

2. Nguyen, Tran Lap Khoi

Email: khoinguyen.tranlap@gmail.com

3. Anh, Pham Van

Email: pva201005@gmail.com

SUSTAINVNETHNIC

Title: Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam

Table of Content:

No. Contents Page No.

1. Summary 1

2. Introduction 2

3. Problems 2

4. Solutions 5

5. Alternative Policies 7

6. Conclusion 9

7. References 10

Summary:

Ethnic clothing, made from environmentally friendly materials, is recyclable, easily

decomposed, and sustainable. Meanwhile, the fashion industry in Vietnam is dominated
by fast fashion with over $3 billion of clothing going to landfill every year. The proposal
of Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam will ensure that ethnic
clothing will be promoted to environmental sustainability. This approach will reduce
 national textile waste, promote ethnic culture, and improve employment outcomes for
ethnic minority groups.

Introduction:

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Fast fashion, in
particular, has dominated and reshaped the fashion industry since the 1990s. It is a major
cause of massive greenhouse gas emissions and devastating impacts on the environment.
The rapid rise and success of brands that bring to the masses affordable yet trendy
clothing have led to a major shift in consumer behavior. Clothes are cheap but the cost to
the environment weighs more expensively. The person averagely wearing an outfit 5
times and throwing it away will create about 3 billion pieces of garbage every year. It
takes decades for a material in a garment to be divided: cotton – 3 months, wool – 25 to
40 years, leather – 25 to 40 years, nylon – 30 to 40 years, rubber – 50 to 80 years, elastic
lycra – about 200 years, polyester (more than half of the garment materials) – more than
200 years.

According to the article, Fashion Revolution Vietnam, the fast fashion industry stands as
the second most contaminating industry in the world, after oil. Acknowledging the “big
warning" issue, the proposal of Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in
Vietnam will come up with a program aimed to connect local brands with the Vietnamese
ethnic minorities to produce sustainable clothing and accessories with their cultural and
special patterns and designs. This approach will reduce national textile waste, promote
ethnic cultures, and improve employment outcomes for ethnic minority groups.

Problems:

The rapid rise and success of brands that bring to the masses affordable yet trendy
clothing have led to a major shift in consumer behavior. Fast fashion dominates the
market as over the past two years, many fast fashion brands have arrived in Vietnam
including H&M, Zara, Cotton On, and Uniqlo. Vietnamese people often use cotton,
synthetic fiber, woolen, filament, and silk for clothing. Most brands' clothes are made
from conventional cotton and polyester, which results in all kinds of pollution. Clothes
are cheap but the cost to the environment weighs more expensively. The person averagely
wearing an outfit 5 times and throwing it away will create about 3 billion pieces of
garbage every year. It takes decades for a material in a garment to be divided: cotton – 3
months, wool – 25 to 40 years, leather – 25 to 40 years, nylon – 30 to 40 years, rubber –
50 to 80 years, elastic lycra – about 200 years, polyester (more than half of the garment
materials) – more than 200 years.
In Vietnam, there is an increasing trend in polyester production, and as such, significant
new investment has been made. In 2008, the locally produced polyester fiber met around
4% of the total demand. Recently, VINATEX and PetroVietnam3 have jointly invested
US$ 125 million in polyester fiber production from petrochemical products, which is
expected to meet 20%-50% of the local demand for polyester fiber. More polyester fiber
production units are expected to be established.

Other reasons for the unsustainable local brands in Vietnam:

- A Hongkong apparel and textile company, Smart Shirts, was fined 138 million
VND (5800 USD) for excessively and repeatedly releasing poisonous chemical
wastes into the environment (Ngoan 2019). However, not all companies are
penalized for their environmental damages for some reason. Chau Giang textile
company, for example, contaminated the air with incinerated wastes but was
strangely ignored by the authorities (Doan 2019).
- Unlike many other countries in the world, retail businesses and supermarkets in
Vietnam offer free plastic bags to all buyers. As a result, the amount of plastic
wastes is unimaginable. Typically, 35 plastic bags are consumed per week by a
household and for all households, this number adds up to 938 million bags per
week (Nhien 2019).

In addition, Vietnam has a specialty of ethnic fashion which strongly expresses the
culture of Vietnam with 54 ethnic minorities. Along with language and writing, costumes
are always an important factor contributing to the creation of cultural identity. Due to
many objective and subjective reasons, the traditional costumes of ethnic groups have
had some changes to the needs and actual living conditions. Because of low supply and
high shipping fees, ethnic clothes are expensive and almost unapproachable. Besides, the
average income of ethnic groups is much lower than the national average. The income of
ethnic minorities per month is about 1.1 to 1.2 million VND (about USD50). According
to a Vietnamese article, Natural Resources and Environment, published in July 2021, the
average income of Vietnamese people for one month is about 4.2 million VND (about
USD185). This shows that the salary of ethnic minorities is significantly lower compared
to the average earning of the total population of Vietnam (less than 4 times). With low
salaries and limited access to technology and fabric employment, ethnic costumes are on
the verge of disappearing.
 Graph 1: Unemployment Rate by Ethnic Group and Sex, 2009 by An Analysis of Key
Indicators From the 2009 Viet Nam Population and Housing Census, Ethnic Groups in
Vietnam, Hanoi, December 2011.

The Khmer people have the highest unemployment rate (5 percent) which is 1.5 times
higher than the national average level. The ethnic groups of the Mong, Thai, Muong, and
Tay have very low employment rates, from the lowest rate of 0.4 percent to 1.6 percent.
According to official definitions, the unemployed are those who are not working but have
a desire to work and who have spent time looking for employment. Perhaps for ethnic
minorities, the unemployment rate is low partly due to different perceptions of this
definition. For example, people of particular ethnic minority groups may have a desire to
work but may not be looking for employment because of limited opportunities in the
remote communities where they live. Graph 1 shows that, except for the Thai people,
there are gender differences in unemployment rates among ethnic groups. While the Kinh
and Tay people have higher unemployment rates for men than for women, for the ethnic
groups of the Muong, Khmer, and Mong, the unemployment rate of women is higher than
that of men.

With inspiration, this program will offer solutions to protect the environment from the
terrible destruction of the fast fashion industry. In addition, the program will preserve and
promote the national costume, the typical culture of the Vietnamese people. At the same
time, the program will also expand human resources for ethnic minority areas to raise
their awareness of environmental protection and sustainability. In this proposal,
Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam aims to promote and
develop ethnic fashion as a sustainable fashion because it’s made from eco-friendly
fabrics such as linen, organic cotton, jute, ramie, hemp, banana, and bamboo.
Solution:

The main problem is accessibility. Ethnic clothing is sustainable and original, but it only
makes up 5% of the Vietnamese fashion market. This is why Environmental
Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam will be effective in encompassing the
objective to expand the sustainable fashion market and promote ethnic culture.

Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam aims to stand by these

objectives:
1. Reduce textile waste by expanding the sustainable fashion market through
forming partnerships between ethnic groups and other local and international
fashion brands in Vietnam.
2. Provide resources and fundings for newly emerged ethnic fashion companies
3. Promote ethnic fashion through multiple advertising channels such as culture fairs
and e-commerce platforms.
4. Improve employment outcomes and raise living standards for ethnic minority
groups by creating more jobs locally.

Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam will focus on forming

partnerships between ethnic groups and popular local and international brands in
Vietnam. This is something that past policies have overlooked as they focused on helping
ethnic groups with their distribution and logistic systems rather than forming a
long-lasting relationship that both ethnic groups and other brands can contribute to
sustainability. In addition to creating partnerships between local brands and ethnic
groups, Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam will provide
e-commerce training workshops and organize culture fairs so that ethnic groups can
promote their products digitally and physically.

Following the modern trend, people have gradually become accustomed to fashionable
outfits. Some ethnic minorities also no longer wear their traditional costumes to reduce
the cumbersome costumes. They often dress more simply to be suitable for work in the
fields, livestock, and sewing. Therefore, this program decided to cooperate with local
brands to design, create, and launch clothes that are neat, sophisticated, more comfortable
but still retain the unique features of each ethnic group. The costumes are all created by
natural materials that are beneficial to the environment but still ensure quality and stable
prices. This solution will minimize the amount of waste of the fashion industry on the
environment. Moreover, the solution also helps to preserve the typical cultural features of
ethnic minorities.
 Table 1: Ethnic Minorities: Fabrics and Ecological Considerations
Ethnicity Fabric and Cultivation Ecological Considerations

Hmong Flax to make Linen Flax is environmentally friendly, requiring little

irrigation and energy to process, and is fully
biodegradable.

Hmong Jute Jute can be recycled several times within its life
cycle and also has important biodegradable
properties.

Hmong Hemp Hemp is ecologically and sustainably important

and is often referred to as the world's most
useful plant. It is non-toxic in use, renewable,
and non-polluting during its life cycle.

Thai, Lu, Organic Cotton Growing organic cotton, rather than

Lao conventional cotton, also reduces levels of water
pollution by 98 percent, according to a 2011
report by the Water Footprint, as synthetic
chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers
aren’t used.

20 other Ramie Ramie is a sustainable plant that has

ethnicities a long fiber-producing lifespan of up
to 20 years and can be harvested up
to six times a year.

Almost Banana In banana plantations, after the fruits

every are harvested, the trunks or stems will
ethnicity be wasted. The properties of the banana fiber
are
good absorbent, highly breathable, quickly dry
with high tensile strength.

Almost Bamboo Bamboo biodegrades

every naturally through exposure to soil and the sun.
ethnicity Bamboo offers a far greater rate of conversion
of greenhouse gas to oxygen than any other
plant, as well as regenerating itself almost
immediately after each harvesting. The more
bamboo that is planted the greater the
photosynthesis, resulting in a reduction of
greenhouse gases. Garments made from bamboo
are completely biodegradable at the end of
their life cycle
 However, a major limitation would be governmental funding. Vietnam's tourism
economy and socio-cultural development have been on a good track for many years.
Nevertheless, the government and the Department of Travel only focus on exploiting
resort centers, parks, and resorts. They have gradually forgotten to exploit the beauty and
features of the Vietnamese national costume to preserve and develop the national identity.
Every year, the government only spends about 1 to 2 hundred million VND (about USD
4400 to USD 9000) for the preservation and development of ethnic minority cultures.
With this meager amount of money, the national costume has gradually ceased to be
restored and gradually disappeared over time.

One of the most significant costs of Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities
in Vietnam would be marketing ethnic fashion, which is unpopular currently. Granted, if
Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam is successful the
government can generate thousands of dollars from taxes, develop the economy, improve
the economic situation, raise average income, and create job opportunities.

Alternative policies:
This program aims to stand by these three alternative policies:
1. Propagate knowledge about sustainability and environmental protection for
ethnic minorities monthly. Fashion professionals and environmentalists will
engage in this program. Insightful feedback will help ethnic minorities to make
use of natural resources in an effective and eco-friendly way, and make their
clothes more flexible and sustainable.
2. Set priorities over developing traditional handicrafts of ethnic minorities,
especially textile, brocade combined with eco-friendly materials. To promote
handicraft, we will facilitate craft villages to access information and technology;
conduct fieldwork and trade promotion; harmoniously connect professional and
semi-professional tourism; honor artisans; select qualified handicraft villages to
avoid rampant development. Besides, to maintain the value of transition, the
young generation of ethnic minorities is encouraged to engage in handicraft
classes.
3. Buy used ethnic clothes to recover ethnic fashion. Then, ethnic costumes will be
donated to charity organizations or be presented at workshops promoting ethnic
minorities’ fashion. In addition to volunteering for poor and homeless households,
the collection and collection of ethnic costumes contribute to environmental
protection and preserves traditional costumes, the typical culture of fifty-four
ethnic minorities.

Comparison between this alternative program and Environmental Sustainability and

Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam program:
 1. Propagate knowledge about sustainability and environmental protection for
ethnic minorities monthly.
Drawbacks:
Language barriers will be of great difficulty. First, it is arduous to find translators
for each distinguished ethnic language. Even if we manage to do so,
communication is no longer effective because professionals and ethnic minorities
communicate through a translator, which is an indirect process.
It is expensive to hire 90 translators for 90 languages in Vietnam because some
ethnic minorities don’t speak Vietnamese. An average salary per day for
translators is about 60-70 USD in Vietnam. That means we have to pay 5400 USD
per month for all translators if they work one day a month. Compared to the
Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam program, this
alternative solution is too expensive to operate due to a lack of financial aid.

2. Set priorities over developing traditional handicrafts of ethnic minorities,

especially textile, brocade combined with eco-friendly materials.
Drawbacks:
This is a repeated and expensive process with little possibility of receiving profits.
The total cost is emblematic of commune cost, research cost, education cost,
hiring costs. This policy is a one-sided process in which we invest in developing
handicrafts without an auspicious result. Sooner or later, this solution will fail due
to the lack of financial support.
There are high possibilities that handicraft villages will fail to successfully
promote cultural, economic, and social values due to spontaneous and scattered
activities.

3. Buy used ethnic clothes to recover ethnic fashion. Then, ethnic costumes will be
donated to charity organizations or be presented at workshops promoting ethnic
minorities’ fashion.
Drawbacks:
This policy only brings short-term results as it doesn’t create motivation for ethnic
minorities to create new and varied clothes. To be more specific, workshops and
exhibitions tend to accept a unique prototype; therefore, if an ethnic minority only
has one traditional costume and style, just one out of many similar others will be
presented in workshops.
Freight cost is expensive, especially the mountainous and treacherous areas.

Based on the comparison between the Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in
Vietnam program and the alternative policies, our team strongly believes that this sustainability
program will be effective with big supports from the Vietnamese government and youth to
bolster the culture of Vietnamese ethnicity.

Conclusion:

Environmental protection and sustainability are currently urgent issues that each country
needs to work on to come up with optimal policies. As students, students, and young
people holding the future of the country, we partly understand the environmental
challenges and sustainable values ​that Vietnam in particular, and the world, in general,
are facing. must face to face.

We always believe that the Environmental Sustainability and Ethnic Minorities in

Vietnam program will be an influential proposal to help improve textile waste and
garments in the fashion industry. Moreover, we firmly believe that this program will
bring a new perspective on traditional costumes of ethnic minorities after cooperating
with local brands to produce environmentally friendly products. Not only sustainable
development for the typical ethnic culture of the country, but we also hope that ethnic
minority fashion in Vietnam will be widely promoted to the world market.
References:

Entering The Vietnamese Textile And Apparel Consumer Market. LAB University of Applied
Science. Page 23, page 30.

Fibre Briefing: Polyester. CO. February 1st, 2018.

https://www.commonobjective.co/article/fibre-briefing-polyester

Gabriel Demombynes. Why is ethnic minority poverty persistent in Vietnam? World Bank
Blogs. October 15th, 2013.
https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/why-ethnic-minority-poverty-persistent-vietn
am

Haunting Portraits of Vietnam’s Disappearing Tribes: French Photographer Documents A Way

of Life That Is Dying Out. Time Mark: Travel and Services.
https://timemark.vn/en/travel-news/haunting-portraits-of-vietnams-disappearing-tribes-fr
ench-photographer-documents-a-way-of-life-that-is-dying-out.html

Phase: End of life. Close The Loop A Guide Towards A Circular Fashion Industry.
https://www.close-the-loop.be/en/phase/3/end-of-life

Sitara Kumbale. Vietnamese Traditional Dresses: Ao Dai, Non-La, Hmong, and Cham Ethnic
Wear. Holidify.
https://www.holidify.com/pages/traditional-dress-of-vietnam-1398.html

Son Luu. The average income of Vietnam is about 4.2 million VND/person/month (about
USD 185). Natural Resources and Environment. July 8th, 2021.
https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/thu-nhap-binh-quan-cua-viet-nam-khoang-4-2-trieu-do
ng-nguoi-thang-327235.html

Report on Vietnam Textile and Garment Industry. Page 14.

https://www.ids.trade/files/actif_report_on_vietnam_textile_and_garment_industry.pdf

Vietnamnet Global. International Fast Fashion Brands See Opportunities in the Vietnamese
Market. January 24th, 2020.
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/international-fast-fashion-brands-see-opportunities-in-v
ietnamese-market-611613.html