Sourcing pyjamas and nightwear from China

12% across knitted nightwear

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, knitted women's nightdresses and pyjamas, briefs, and dressing gowns and bathrobes of cotton or man-made fibres all carried 12% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Woven nightwear sits in chapter 62, so confirm the commodity code against the fabric. For briefs, see our guide to sourcing women's knitted briefs. For camisoles, see our guide to sourcing women's knitted camisoles.

Fibre composition must be on the label as for any garment; the womenswear guide covers the fibre label and fit sampling that apply here too.

The Nightwear Safety Regulations

The Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985 treat children's and adults' nightwear differently. Under regulation 4, children's nightwear, other than pyjamas, babies' garments and cotton terry towelling bathrobes, must not be made of fabric incapable of meeting the flammability performance requirements; the three exceptions must be labelled instead. Under regulation 6, adults' nightwear must be labelled in accordance with Schedule 2.

Schedule 2 sets the label. A garment that does not meet the flammability test must say KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE in red letters; one that does may say LOW FLAMMABILITY TO BS 5722 in black, or the fire warning, or both. The letters are medium upper case of 10 point, the label must be durable and securely attached, at the neck or next to the size label. Put the wording into the label artwork and check it at inspection.

Children's ranges need fabric testing

For children's nightdresses and dressing gowns, the fabric itself has to pass, so the test report has to be for the bulk fabric, after washing where the regulations require it, not for a sample swatch. Brushed and fleecy fabrics burn faster, which is why they are the ones that fail; decide the fabric with the flammability test in mind rather than testing after the order.

If a fabric passes only because of a flame retardant treatment, the regulations add their own labelling for that as well, so tell the factory before it treats anything.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 10,000 sets of women's knitted cotton pyjamas under 6108 31 00 00, add the £2,500 of freight and insurance to the £50,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £52,500. At 12%, duty on these cotton pyjamas is £6,300; import VAT of £11,760 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £18,060, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. Children's nightdresses and dressing gowns carry the same rate but need flammability testing of the bulk fabric. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Wash performance: wash sets to ISO 6330 by the care label and measure dimensional change to ISO 5077 on tops and bottoms separately, since mismatched shrinkage ruins a set.

Surface and colour: test pilling to ISO 12945-2, or with the pilling box of ISO 12945-1 for brushed and fleece fabrics, and colour fastness to washing to ISO 105-C06 and to perspiration to ISO 105-E04.

Children's trims: pull-test snaps, buttons and appliqués on children's pyjamas following the design guidance of BS 7907, and check no small parts come away under the pull force agreed in the order.

What goes wrong

Nightwear fails on flammability, labels and fabric. Brushed or fleecy fabric for children's nightdresses and dressing gowns fails the flammability test after washing, the Schedule 2 label is missing, the wrong colour or too small, and cords and drawstrings on children's garments break the design rules. Adult sets shrink, pill and bobble after a few washes, and tops and bottoms from different dye lots do not match.

Test bulk fabric for children's nightwear to BS 5722 after the required washing, check each style's Schedule 2 label wording, colour and letter size, check children's cords and drawstrings against BS EN 14682, wash-test shrinkage and pilling on adult ranges, and check shade matching between tops and bottoms before packing.

Fit, softness and packing

Loungewear and nightwear sell on softness, so approve the fabric hand as well as the colour, and ask for pilling and shrinkage tests. Sets are sold as sets, so check that tops and bottoms from different cutting batches match in shade.

Cambridge China Bridge sources own-label pyjamas, nightwear and loungewear with the flammability testing and Schedule 2 labels settled before production. See how our sourcing service works.