Leather and shoe-making machines from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, machinery for preparing, tanning or working hides, skins or leather or for making or repairing footwear or other articles of hides, skins or leather, other than sewing machines, heading 8453, carried 0% on goods from China on all four lines, with no anti-dumping measure.

Sewing machines for footwear and leather are classified under heading 8452 (see our sewing machines guide), and injection moulding machines for soles under 8477. Confirm the commodity code for each machine in a line.

Machinery rules

Each machine placed on the UK market must meet the essential health and safety requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, with a declaration of conformity, marking and instructions in English. Type standards cover the main machines, such as BS EN 972 for reciprocating roller machines in tanneries, BS EN 931 for lasting machines and BS EN 12203 for shoe and leather presses.

Tannery machines work with wet hides and chemicals and footwear lines use solvent-based adhesives, so the site also needs extraction and the controls for hazardous substances, which the buyer arranges.

Specifying machines

Specify the operation (splitting, shaving, skiving, lasting, sole pressing, cementing, heat setting), working width or last range, cycle time, pressure, heating and cooling, dust and fume extraction points, controls, voltage and supply, and the tooling, knives and spares to come with each machine.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: a footwear lasting and cementing line, commodity code 8453 20 00 00, bought for £95,000 free on board, with £6,000 of freight and insurance, so £101,000 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on shoe-making machines; import VAT at 20% of £101,000 is £20,200. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Trial: run your own leather, uppers and soles on the machines at the factory and check split thickness, skive profile, lasting shape and sole bond against samples.

Safety: check two-hand controls, guards and interlocks on presses and roller machines against the relevant standard such as BS EN 12203 or BS EN 972, test every emergency stop, and check the electrical panel against BS EN 60204-1.

Documents and tooling: check the declaration of conformity, English manuals, knives, pads and spares, and check machines are braced for shipping.

What goes wrong

Leather and footwear machines fail on consistency, guarding and spares. Splitting thickness drifts, lasting machines do not suit your lasts, press pads and knives wear fast, export models lack two-hand controls or roller guards, and parts are slow to arrive.

Trial with your own materials, check guarding against the type standards, and agree spares before shipment. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources leather working and shoe-making machinery for UK workshops, tanneries and footwear makers, and can place a first order for a single machine. See small orders.