Sourcing baby clothing from China

Duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, knitted babies' garments of cotton, synthetic fibres or other textiles carried 12% duty on goods from China, and knitted babies' gloves, mittens and mitts 8%. No line carried an anti-dumping measure.

Woven babywear is classified in chapter 62; confirm the commodity code by fabric. For second-hand garments, see our guide to importing worn clothing.

Labels and nightwear

Article 14 of Regulation 1007/2011, as it applies in Great Britain, requires a durable, legible fibre composition label. Babies' garments are also named in the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985: regulation 4 exempts them from the children's nightwear flammability requirement but requires them to be labelled under Schedule 2, so sleepsuits and similar garments need the nightwear label.

The nightwear guide sets out the label wording.

Design safety

The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 require products to be safe, and for babywear the hazards are cords and drawstrings, poppers, buttons and decorations that can come off, and stitching that can entangle fingers or toes. Specify fastenings and attachment tests, avoid cords at the neck, and check pull strength of buttons and poppers at inspection.

Ask for chemical testing of fabrics, prints and trims for restricted substances, since babies mouth their clothes.

Worked duty example

A made-up example rather than a quote: 20,000 babies' cotton bodysuits under 6111 20 90 00, bought for £30,000 free on board with £2,000 of freight and insurance, so the customs value is £32,000. Duty at 12% on knitted babies' garments is £3,840. Young children's clothing is normally zero-rated for VAT, so no import VAT is due on these garments if they meet HMRC's size and design tests for children's clothing, and the £3,840 of duty is the whole import cost. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Mechanical safety: garments checked against the design guidance of BS 7907 for children's clothing, cords and drawstrings measured against BS EN 14682, and buttons, poppers and appliqués pull-tested on samples before and after washing, with any trim that loosens treated as a failure of the lot.

Chemicals: metal poppers and snaps tested for nickel release by BS EN 1811, dyed fabrics tested for restricted azo dyes under UK REACH Annex XVII entry 43, and pH of the fabric extract by ISO 3071 and free formaldehyde by ISO 14184-1 checked against the buyer's limits.

Washing and labels: dimensional change measured by ISO 5077 after washing to ISO 6330 on garments from each size, colour fastness to washing tested by ISO 105-C06, fibre content checked on the label as the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012 require, and any size by age checked against the agreed size chart.

What goes wrong

Babywear fails on small parts, fabric and sizing. Poppers set badly in thin jersey pull out, decorative buttons and bows come off, and loose threads inside feet and mittens can wrap around fingers and toes. Cotton that is not pre-shrunk loses a size in the first wash, and size bands that do not match UK age ranges generate returns.

Pull-test poppers and trims before and after washing, test snaps for nickel release, check inside feet and mittens for loose threads, wash-test for shrinkage, measure against a UK size chart by age, and check that no cords exceed the lengths in BS EN 14682.

Sizes and minimums

Babywear is sold by age size bands, often in multipacks, and the minimum order applies across the size run and each colour. Cambridge China Bridge sources own-label babywear, with labels, design safety, chemical tests and size runs settled before production. See how our sourcing service works. For the reverse trade, see exporting baby clothing to China.