Men's woven pyjamas and robes from China
Men's and boys' woven boxer shorts, pyjamas, nightshirts, bathrobes and dressing gowns from China pay 12% UK duty with no anti-dumping duty. The Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985 require boys' nightshirts and dressing gowns to pass a flammability test and other nightwear to carry the right fire label, and fibre content must use permitted names. Cambridge China Bridge sources men's nightwear.
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A flat 12%
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, men's or boys' woven underpants and briefs, nightshirts and pyjamas, and bathrobes, dressing gowns and similar articles including terry towelling robes, in cotton, man-made fibres or other textiles, carried 12% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure.
Knitted boxers, T-shirts and loungewear are in chapter 61, covered in the men's underwear guide, and women's woven nightwear is in 6208, covered in the women's nightwear guide. Confirm the commodity code from the fabric construction. For daytime shirts, see our men's woven shirt sourcing guide.
| Goods | Commodity code | Duty | Anti-dumping duty on China |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woven underpants and boxer shorts, of cotton | 6207 11 00 00 | 12% | None |
| Woven nightshirts and pyjamas, of cotton | 6207 21 00 00 | 12% | None |
| Woven nightshirts and pyjamas, of man-made fibres | 6207 22 00 00 | 12% | None |
| Terry towelling bathrobes and dressing gowns, of cotton | 6207 91 00 11 | 12% | None |
| Other cotton robes and similar | 6207 91 00 99 | 12% | None |
| Robes and similar, of man-made fibres | 6207 99 10 00 | 12% | None |
Nightwear fire rules and labels
Under the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985, boys' nightshirts and dressing gowns other than cotton terry towelling bath robes must meet the flammability requirements, while boys' pyjamas, cotton terry towelling bath robes and all adult nightwear must carry the prescribed fire label: KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE if they do not meet the flammability requirements, or a permitted low-flammability or fire-warning label if they do. Brushed cotton, flannel and fleece-backed fabrics burn fastest, so test the bulk fabric before cutting children's styles.
Fibre content must be shown with permitted names under the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012; care instructions and sizes should also be provided. Drawcords on boys' robes and pyjama trousers should follow BS EN 14682 for children's clothing.
Worked duty example
An invented example rather than a quote: 5,000 men's cotton poplin pyjama sets, commodity code 6207 21 00 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 12% rate for cotton pyjamas is £3,840. VAT at 20% applies to £35,840, so £7,168. A VAT-registered buyer usually recovers the VAT, so the border adds £3,840 to the landed cost. Knitted pyjamas under heading 6107 carry the same 12% rate, so the saving comes from the landed unit cost rather than the fabric construction. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.
What goes wrong
Men's woven nightwear fails on shrinkage, seams and labels. Cotton poplin and flannel shrink beyond the size chart after the first wash, elasticated waistbands lose stretch, fly buttons pull off, and terry robes shed lint and lose weight per square metre compared with the sample. A missing or wrong fire label, or a boys' dressing gown that has not been tested, stops the whole shipment.
Test dimensional change after the care-label wash to ISO 6330 and ISO 5077, colour fastness to washing to ISO 105-C06, seam slippage to ISO 13936-1 on smooth fabrics and fibre content to the ISO 1833 series, weigh terry samples against the agreed GSM, have boys' styles tested for flammability, and check fire labels, sizes and buttons on every style at inspection.
Cambridge China Bridge sources men's and boys' pyjamas, boxer shorts and dressing gowns for retailers and own brands, from first orders to repeat programmes. See our service for smaller orders.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK import duty on men's pyjamas from China?
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, men's and boys' woven pyjamas and nightshirts carried 12% from China, with no anti-dumping duty.
Do men's pyjamas need a fire label?
Yes. Adult nightwear must carry a prescribed fire label: KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE if it does not meet the flammability requirements, or a permitted low-flammability or fire-warning label if it does.
Which boys' garments must pass the flammability test?
Boys' nightshirts and dressing gowns; boys' pyjamas may instead carry the fire label.
What goes wrong most often?
Shrinkage beyond the size chart, weak waistbands and buttons, and missing or wrong fire labels.
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.