Sourcing sewing thread from China

4% or 0%, set by how the thread is made

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 29 September 2026, sewing thread of man-made filament (heading 5401) carried 4% on all eight lines from China, while sewing thread of man-made staple fibre (heading 5508, four lines) and of cotton (heading 5204, three lines) carried 0%. None carried an anti-dumping measure or a registration requirement.

Core-spun thread, a polyester filament core wrapped in cotton or polyester fibre, has its own lines in 5401. Spun polyester thread made only from staple fibre is 5508. Each heading also splits thread put up for retail sale from thread on industrial cones. Confirm the commodity code from the supplier's construction data.

Labels and dyes

Thread sold to consumers is a textile product, so reels and packs put up for retail sale need a fibre composition label under the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012. Thread on industrial cones for garment makers is usually labelled with ticket number, length and fibre on the cone.

Thread ends up in garments worn against the skin, so the dyes matter: UK REACH restricts certain azo dyes in textile articles, and a garment maker will expect the thread supplier to confirm it. See our UK REACH guide.

Specifying thread

Specify the construction (core-spun, spun polyester, filament, bonded nylon or cotton), the ticket number or tex, the ply, minimum tenacity and elongation, lubrication for high-speed sewing, the length per cone and its tolerance, the colour reference for each shade, and colour fastness to washing and rubbing.

Shade is where thread orders go wrong, so approve a lab dip for each colour against your fabric and keep the approved cone as the reference.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 40,000 cones of polyester core-spun thread wrapped in cotton, under 5401 10 12 00, at £24,000 free on board with £1,200 of freight and insurance, so the customs value is £25,200. Duty at 4% is £1,008, about 2.5p a cone, and import VAT at 20% of £26,208 is £5,241.60, which a VAT-registered buyer normally reclaims. The same order in spun polyester staple thread would fall under 5508 at 0%, but the construction decides the code, not the saving: choose the thread for its sewing performance and declare what it is. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Length and count: measure the length on sampled cones against the stated length, and check the ticket, ply and label on each carton.

Strength and sewing: test breaking strength on samples, and sew test seams on your own machines and fabric at production speed to check for breaks, fraying and puckering.

Colour: compare each shade with its approved lab dip under the same light, and check colour fastness to washing to ISO 105-C06. See our quality inspection guide.

What goes wrong

Thread orders fail on length, strength and shade. Cones carry less thread than the label says, thread breaks at speed because the lubrication or twist is wrong, and a shade dyed in a different batch no longer matches the fabric.

Cambridge China Bridge sources sewing thread for UK garment and upholstery makers, and can compare samples from several mills before you choose; see sample comparison.