Sourcing leather gloves, belts and jackets
Leather clothing and accessories from China pay 4% UK duty for jackets, coats, belts and bandoliers, 8% for sports and protective work gloves and 6% for other leather gloves, with no anti-dumping duty. Leather touching the skin must not contain 3 mg/kg or more of chromium VI, and protective work gloves are personal protective equipment. Cambridge China Bridge sources leather garments and gloves.
Buying from China for a business? How our UK China sourcing agent service works · China sourcing agent for small orders and first imports
Rates by article
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, articles of apparel of leather or composition leather carried 4% duty on goods from China, gloves specially designed for sports 8%, protective gloves for all trades 8%, other gloves and mittens 6%, and belts, bandoliers and other clothing accessories 4%, with no anti-dumping measure. Garments of fur skin or with leather only as trimming classify elsewhere, so confirm the commodity code.
| Goods | Commodity code | Duty | Anti-dumping duty on China |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather jackets, coats and other apparel | 4203 10 00 00 | 4% | None |
| Gloves specially designed for sports | 4203 21 00 00 | 8% | None |
| Protective gloves for all trades | 4203 29 10 00 | 8% | None |
| Other leather gloves and mittens | 4203 29 90 00 | 6% | None |
| Belts and bandoliers | 4203 30 00 90 | 4% | None |
| Other clothing accessories | 4203 40 00 90 | 4% | None |
Chemicals and PPE rules
Entry 47 of UK REACH Annex XVII prohibits leather articles and articles with leather parts that come into contact with the skin if they contain chromium VI at 3 mg/kg or more of the dry leather, and entry 43 restricts azo dyes that release listed amines. Metal buckles and studs that touch the skin for long periods must meet the nickel release limits of entry 27.
Leather work gloves sold to protect against mechanical risks are personal protective equipment under the retained PPE regulation, tested to BS EN 388 for abrasion, cut, tear and puncture and to the general glove requirements, with UKCA or CE marking and a declaration of conformity; gloves against more than minimal risks need third-party conformity assessment by a UK Approved Body or EU Notified Body, as applicable to the marking route. The work gloves guide covers knitted and coated gloves.
Worked duty example
An invented example rather than a quote: 20,000 pairs of leather rigger gloves, commodity code 4203 29 10 00, bought for £30,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance, so £32,000 is the value customs works from. Duty at the 8% rate for protective leather gloves is £2,560. VAT at 20% applies to £34,560, so £6,912. A VAT-registered buyer usually recovers the VAT, so the border adds £2,560 to the landed cost. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.
What goes wrong
Leather goods fail on the hide, the tannage and the finish. Split leather is sold as full grain, pieces from different hides are mismatched in colour and thickness, chrome-tanned leather tests over the chromium VI limit, and finishes crack or rub off onto clothing. Gloves are cut small, seams split at the thumb, and work gloves carry EN 388 performance levels that the leather does not reach; jackets arrive smelling of solvent or mouldy after a humid voyage.
Specify the leather type, thickness and tannage, test each leather lot in a UK laboratory for chromium VI and azo dyes, ask for EN 388 test reports for the exact glove model, check sizes against the size chart, check seams, colour matching and rub fastness on samples, and pack with ventilation and desiccant to avoid mould.
Cambridge China Bridge sources leather jackets, gloves, belts and accessories, with chromium testing and PPE evidence agreed before production. See how we source leather goods.
Related guides: Sourcing textile belts and garment parts. For trade in the opposite direction, see exporting UK leather belts to China.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK import duty on leather gloves from China?
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, sports and protective leather gloves pay 8% and other leather gloves 6%.
What duty do leather jackets and belts pay?
Leather apparel, belts and other clothing accessories pay 4%.
Is there a chromium VI limit for leather?
Yes. UK REACH Annex XVII entry 47 prohibits skin-contact leather with 3 mg/kg or more of chromium VI.
Are leather work gloves PPE?
Yes. Gloves sold to protect against mechanical risks are PPE, tested to BS EN 388 and UKCA or CE marked.
Sources
What most often fails: Clothing, textiles and fashion
UK OPSS + EU / EEA Safety Gate (alerts counted separately in each system) · China-origin alerts over the 24 calendar month coverage window(2024-12 – 2026-11) · 152
Combined counts are alerts from both systems, not unique products across markets. Each source uses its own publication window; the same product may appear in both. · OPSS: 2024-12 – 2026-11 · Safety Gate: 2024-12 – 2026-11
- Chemical: 95
- Entrapment: 25
- Strangulation: 20
Most-cited regulations
- REACH Regulation: 79
- General Product Safety Regulation: 36
- EN 14682: 26
Checks to ask the factory for
- Ask for laboratory testing for restricted substances relevant to the materials and intended market.
- Match the report model, material colours and component list to the order.
- Ask how raw-material declarations and supplier changes are traced by batch.
Questions for due diligence, not a certification checklist or a guarantee of compliance. Select the applicable standards and tests with a competent laboratory.
The current calendar month is partial. These are published alerts, safety reports and recalls, not a measure of all products sold or a recall rate. Hong Kong is reported separately.
All recall dataContains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OPSS, GOV.UK product safety alerts)
Source: European Commission, Safety Gate, English XML (en), extracted 2026-11-09. XML distribution: CC0. Cambridge China Bridge analysis.