He pointed out that footwear factories in Vietnam were forced to shutter during the Covid-19 pandemic but said "even more importantly," Nike's employees worked from home for 2.5 years.

Treading a familiar path for women in rural Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hiep found a factory job in dynamic Ho Chi Minh City and spent 16 years helping make shoes for Western brands such as Adidas and Nike.

One of the world's biggest garment makers, Vietnam reported more than 26,000 new infections on Sunday, or about double the peak last year, when factories supplying brands such as Nike, Zara ...