Sourcing men's knitted bowling shirts from China

A flat 12% duty on knitted bowling shirts

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 4 October 2026, heading 6105 covers men's or boys' knitted or crocheted shirts. This guide focuses on men's knitted bowling shirts. A woven bowling shirt belongs in heading 6205; the bowling style or team decoration alone does not establish the code.

Every line in the supplied heading carries 12% duty for goods from China, with no listed anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. Cotton, synthetic and artificial fibre lines have no attached controls. The wool or fine animal hair line and the other textile materials line carry CITES import and export controls. CITES-listed specimens need an import permit; for a China order involving listed material, ask your customs broker to confirm the applicable permits and restrictions before ordering.

Confirm the commodity code using the finished sample, fabric construction and fibre composition. For wider heading coverage, see men's knitted baseball shirts. Use the import duty and VAT guide when building the landed cost.

Specify the bowling collar, panels and movement

Agree the knit structure, fibre composition, fabric weight and stretch recovery. Specify the open collar shape, button front, contrast panel layout, piping, chest pocket and hem finish. Approve a size chart covering chest, shoulder, sleeve opening and body length, with measurement tolerances written into the order.

Check an approved sample with the wearer reaching forward and raising an arm. Agree whether team names are printed or embroidered, their position across sizes and the backing finish against the skin. The fibre label must show the fibre content, including animal parts where present. Businesses importing or selling consumer products are responsible for their safety.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 1,000 men's cotton knitted bowling shirts under 6105 10 00 00, invoiced at £6,000 free on board, with £800 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £6,800. Duty at 12% is £816. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £7,616, so it is £1,523.20. Import taxes total £2,339.20; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £816 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Fabric and panels: compare fibre composition, weight, stretch and shades with the approved sample; wash contrasting colours together to check bleeding onto lighter panels.

Collar and fit: measure each sampled size, check collar symmetry and front alignment, then reassess shrinkage, seam twist and collar shape after washing.

Decoration and fastenings: check team names, embroidery puckering, print adhesion, piping joins, button attachment and sharp or rough trim edges.

Arrival and labels: check fibre labels against the agreed composition, carton size breakdowns, dampness, odour and staining. Record findings through the inspection process.

What goes wrong

Contrast panels can shrink differently and pull the front out of shape. Dark panels or piping can stain a pale body during washing. A soft knit collar can collapse, while embroidery can stretch the chest panel and leave puckering around the team name.

A sample may fit at rest but pull across the shoulders during a bowling movement. Approve the fit in use and wash the decorated sample before bulk approval. Keep a signed sample showing the panel layout, collar shape and decoration so replacement team shirts can be compared with the original order.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For own-brand ranges, see sourcing for brands.