Wetsuits and coated rainwear from China

8% or 12% by coating

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, garments made up of knitted or crocheted fabric of heading 5906, rubberised textile fabric such as neoprene laminated with knit, carried 8% duty on goods from China, and garments of other knitted fabric of heading 5903 or 5907, such as plastic-coated or laminated knits, carried 12%, with no anti-dumping measure.

Garments of woven coated fabric are in heading 6210, and rainwear where the coating cannot be seen with the naked eye is usually classified as an ordinary knitted garment of chapter 61. Confirm the commodity code. Our coated fabrics guide covers the fabric itself.

Chemicals, labels and children's wear

Neoprene and other rubber parts in direct and prolonged contact with skin are subject to the limits on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in UK REACH Annex XVII entry 50, and plasticised PVC coatings to the phthalate limit in entry 51. Ask for test reports on the finished garment material from an accredited laboratory; see our UK REACH guide.

Fibre content must be labelled with permitted names under the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012, and children's rainwear must follow BS EN 14682 for drawcords and cords. Wetsuits are not personal protective equipment unless they are sold with a protective claim, which would bring them under the PPE Regulation.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 1,000 neoprene wetsuits under 6113 00 10 00, add the £1,500 of freight and insurance to the £28,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £29,500. At 8%, duty on these neoprene wetsuits is £2,360; import VAT of £6,372 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £8,732, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. A rain jacket of plastic-coated knitted fabric under 6113 00 90 00 would pay 12% on the same value, so the coating material changes the rate. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

What goes wrong

Wetsuits fail at the seams and the neoprene. Glued and blind-stitched seams leak or open, neoprene is thinner or less stretchy than the approved sample, zips corrode in salt water, and knee pads delaminate. Coated rain jackets leak at untaped seams, the coating cracks or peels after washing, and a waterproof label is printed without any hydrostatic head result behind it.

Measure neoprene thickness at set points on each size, test seam strength and flex the knees and zips on samples, water-test wetsuits for leaks at the seams, test coated fabric for waterproofness to ISO 811 and breathability to ISO 11092 where it is claimed, check tape adhesion after washing to ISO 6330, and test PAH and phthalate content on the first bulk lot.

Cambridge China Bridge sources wetsuits, neoprene accessories and coated rainwear for water-sports and outdoor brands, from sample rounds to repeat orders. See our second-supplier service.