Sourcing scarves and shawls from China

A flat 8%

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, shawls, scarves, mufflers, mantillas, veils and the like that are not knitted carried 8% duty on goods from China, in silk, wool or fine animal hair, synthetic fibres, artificial fibres or other materials, hand-made or not, with no anti-dumping measure.

Knitted scarves are in heading 6117; confirm the commodity code from the construction.

Fibre labels and claims

The Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012 require fibre composition using permitted fibre names, and a cashmere or silk claim must be true. Blends sold as pure cashmere or viscose sold as silk are common problems, so test a sample of bulk fabric before printing labels.

Design and finish

Specify size, weight, weave, edge finish (rolled, fringed or hemmed), print method and colour fastness. Printed designs must be yours or licensed; see the IP guide.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 2,000 woven wool scarves under 6214 20 00 90, invoiced at £6,000 free on board, with £500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £6,500. Duty at 8% is £520. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £7,020, so it is £1,404. Import taxes total £1,924; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £520 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Fibre and weight: fibre content by quantitative analysis to the ISO 1833 series on bulk fabric against the label, microscopy by a specialist lab for cashmere, silk or other premium claims, and mass per unit area to ISO 3801 compared with the approved sample.

Colour and wear: colour fastness to rubbing to ISO 105-X12, to perspiration to ISO 105-E04 and to washing to ISO 105-C06 on each colourway and print, with pilling to ISO 12945-2 on brushed and acrylic-blend fabrics, each against grades agreed before bulk.

Finish and inspection: fringe and edge finish checked by a pull test at a load agreed in the order, length and width measured on every design, print registration checked on a sample from each screen or file, and a final random inspection sampled to ISO 2859-1.

What goes wrong

Scarves fail in ways a tech pack rarely covers. Fringes shed or unravel if they are not knotted or stitched, so specify the fringe finish and pull-test it. Acrylic sold as a cashmere-feel scarf pills within weeks; test pilling on the bulk fabric. Printed silk and viscose migrate colour when damp, and digital prints misregister across the width.

Cashmere and wool claims need a fibre composition test on bulk, because blends are the most common mislabelling in this category. At inspection, check length and width against the order, snags and loose threads along the selvedge, print alignment on a sample from each design, and that labels match the tested composition.

Inspection

At inspection, check size, print registration, loose threads, fringe length and labels, and rub-test colour.

Cambridge China Bridge sources silk, wool, cashmere and printed scarves, with fibre tests, designs and labels settled before the order. See how our sourcing service works. For the reverse trade route, see our guide to exporting UK scarves to China.