The impression of prolonged factory shutdowns in Vietnam is probably going going to be worse than many attire and footwear retailers have deliberate for, lasting effectively into 2022, based on analysts at BofA Securities.

The Wall Road analysis agency mentioned in a be aware to shoppers over the weekend that the restoration in Vietnam might be extra gradual than retailers are anticipating, and that companies are being too optimistic about turnaround occasions.

BofA cited a variety of causes for its predictions, together with the truth that the reopening of the economic system in Southern Vietnam — the place many attire and footwear producers are housed — has been shifting a lot slower than within the North.

Vietnam skilled a devastating surge in Covid circumstances this previous July via August, prompting one other spherical of native lockdowns. The short-term pause to manufacturing dealt a blow to companies resembling Adidas and Nike, which rely closely on the area for manufacturing their sneakers and athletic attire. Companies have since began to reopen, however vaccination charges stay considerably decrease in contrast with different international locations, BofA notes.

“Whereas manufacturing actions certainly recovered quick final yr after the temporary Covid-related disruption, manufacturing is prone to take longer to normalize this time round – maybe so long as 6 months,” mentioned BofA economist Mohamed Faiz Nagutha.

He added that present manufacturing unit operation guidelines in Vietnam stay strict and really sophisticated, which may hinder workers’ skill to return to work.

“All in, we count on a number of headwinds to weigh on the expectations for a quick resumption in manufacturing actions – together with the probably persistence of labor shortages … but additionally attributable to rising uncooked supplies prices and provide chain disruptions in lots of different components of Asia,” Nagutha mentioned.

Puma has already warned that offer chain bottlenecks, explicit in Vietnam, will entail a scarcity of its merchandise far into subsequent yr. Final week, Adidas trimmed its 2021 outlook attributable to sourcing disruptions.

The subject will probably come up on a variety of convention calls this week, as a spherical of outlets are set to report quarterly earnings. That record contains division retailer chains Kohl’s and Macy’s, big-box chains Walmart and Target, in addition to mall staples Victoria’s Secret and Foot Locker.

—CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.