Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade has uncovered an alleged cross-border operation producing shoes bearing Nike, Nike Air and Air Jordan trademarks for export to the United States.
The ministry announced the case on July 24, saying investigators had inspected a manufacturing facility operated by MP Company in Ho Chi Minh City and found nearly 50,000 pairs of shoes and related components linked to the operation.
During the inspection, officials found large quantities of finished and semi-finished products bearing the Nike, Nike Air and Air Jordan trademarks.
Authorities seized 25,396 finished pairs of shoes carrying the Nike and Air Jordan brands, with a declared value of more than VND 12.3 billion (USD 469,000). They also found 20,875 shoe uppers and 10,800 shoe soles bearing suspected Nike branding that were still being assembled, with a declared value of more than VND 11.2 billion (USD 427,000).
The ministry said the goods would be worth more than VND 100 billion (USD 3.81 million) at market prices.
A representative of MP Company said the products were manufactured under a processing contract with F.C.T Company. According to the company, the overseas partner supplied the raw materials, while MP Company processed the products before returning them for export.
The company provided investigators with processing contracts, email correspondence with its business partner, documents it said authorised the use of Nike trademarks and export records to explain the origin of the shipment.
According to company records, MP Company exported 11 containers of finished shoes bearing the Nike and Air Jordan trademarks to the United States between the beginning of 2026 and the date of the inspection. The shipments had a declared value of more than VND 25.46 billion (USD 971,000).
However, according to written confirmation from Nike Vietnam and a letter from the senior director of global licensing at Nike Inc, the company said it had never granted MP Company or L.L.C any licence, trademark authorisation or other written permission to manufacture or use Nike-branded products. Nike also said neither organisation had been authorised to represent the company in commercial activities.
Based on the inspection, the documents provided by the company, confirmation from the trademark owner and information shared by HSI, investigators concluded that the products showed signs of infringing trademarks protected in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said the investigation is continuing.
