Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/hanesbrands-relocates-manufacturing-to-asia Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Hanesbrands underwear company has closed 30 plants in North and South America, putting thousands out of work, while relocating its factories to Asian countries. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: And next, the story of one company's tough business decisions. Special correspondent Jeffrey Kaye has that report. JEFFREY KAYE, NewsHour Correspondent: At a new factory in Vietnam owned by the American underwear company Hanesbrands, workers are turning out men's briefs to be sold in the United States.This plant in Wei, in central Vietnam, is one of the firm's five new Asia factories, two in Vietnam, two in Thailand, and one in China. Hanesbrands' Asia facilities opened in the past two-and-a-half years employ about 6,000 people. JAVIER CHACON, Vice President, Hanesbrands, Inc.: Vietnam has, you know, a good labor force, you know, good labor costs, you know, good infrastructure, good energy costs, and it is convenient for our fabric location in China. JEFFREY KAYE: Javier Chacon is Hanesbrands' vice president for Asian apparel operations.And the average wage here is what? JAVIER CHACON: The average, in general, in our location, the current annual — the current monthly take-home is about $80, but that's — that's the average. It might go higher, you know, depending on the productivity. JEFFREY KAYE: The pay is $30 a month more than the country's legal minimum. It's a six-day, 48-hour workweek. Employees get free lunches, but cannot legally join a union that's not approved by the Communist Party.Since 1987, Vietnam has been shifting to a mixed-market system, undertaking what it calls "economic renovation." It encourages private and foreign investment by offering low taxes and low wages.Some 10,000 overseas businesses have pumped in about $40 billion worth of investments, mostly in manufacturing. At Vietnam's foreign investment agency, official Boi Kuk Chung says the country is on track to become an industrial nation by the year 2020. BOI KUK CHUNG: Vietnam, very attractive environment.