Men's woven pyjamas and robes from China

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.

Nightwear fire rules and labels

Under the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985, boys' nightshirts and dressing gowns must pass the flammability test, while boys' pyjamas and all adult nightwear must either meet the low flammability test or carry the KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE label in the prescribed form. 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, with care instructions and sizes. 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.