Sourcing women's cycling shorts from China

UK duty on women's knitted cycling shorts

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 8 October 2026, heading 6104 covers women's or girls' knitted or crocheted garments, including shorts other than swimwear. The selected cycling-shorts lines all carry 12% duty on goods from China, so there is no variation in the duty range shown here. No anti-dumping or countervailing measures or suspensions are recorded for these lines.

The tariff attaches cat and dog fur and seal-product import controls. Imports and exports of cat and dog fur, including products made from it, are banned. Seal products brought into Great Britain for sale must qualify under the Inuit and other indigenous communities' exemption. For a China shipment containing animal materials, ask your customs broker to confirm the required documents. The other-materials line also has a CITES import control attached; confirm its requirements with your broker.

Confirm the commodity code using the garment construction and full fibre composition, rather than the supplier's description alone. For the wider product family, see women's knitted leggings. For pencil-skirt styles, see our women's knitted pencil skirts guide. For divided-skirt styles, see our women's knitted culottes sourcing guide.

Specify stretch, coverage and the seat pad

State whether these are unpadded close-fitting shorts for everyday wear or padded shorts for cycling. Specify the knitted fabric, fibre blend, fabric weight, stretch direction, recovery, opacity when stretched and finish. Agree waistband construction, rise, inside-leg length, leg openings, pocket position and a graded size chart with measurement tolerances. For tennis skirts with attached shorts, see our women's knitted tennis skirts sourcing guide. For tennis dresses and inner shorts, see our knitted tennis dresses sourcing guide.

For padded styles, approve the seat pad's shape, thickness, position and attachment on a riding-fit sample. Check that seams and leg grippers do not rub or restrict movement. For sale in Great Britain, garments need fibre composition labelling and must meet the general product safety requirement. Agree the care instructions and size labels as part of the order.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2,000 women's knitted cycling shorts under 6104 63 00 00, invoiced at £18,000 free on board, with £1,200 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £19,200. Duty at 12% is £2,304. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £21,504, so it is £4,300.80. Import taxes total £6,604.80; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £2,304 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Fit and recovery: measure production garments across the size range, stretch the waistband and leg openings, and compare recovery with the approved sample. Check fit in a seated riding position.

Coverage and washing: inspect opacity while the fabric is stretched, especially at the seat. Wash production samples and check shrinkage, twisting, colour transfer and print cracking.

Seams and pads: examine crotch seams for skipped stitches, bulky joins and opening under stretch. Check pad alignment, attachment, surface wrinkles and leg-gripper adhesion where fitted.

Labels and packing: compare the fibre composition label with fabric test results and check its attachment and legibility. Match size labels and carton contents to the order. Use a written brief for quality inspection.

What goes wrong

A fabric can look opaque when relaxed but become transparent over the seat. Weak recovery leaves baggy knees or a loose waistband, while tight leg openings ride up. Padded styles can chafe when the pad shifts or a seam crosses a pressure point.

Approve samples in the intended fabric and each colour, then compare production pieces with them before shipment and on arrival. Record stretch, wash and riding-fit findings against the order. Keep affected stock separate while the factory investigates mismatched labels, failed seams or substituted pads.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For own-brand ranges, see sourcing for brands.