Sourcing women's knitted tops and shirts from China
Women's and girls' knitted or crocheted blouses, shirts and shirt-blouses from China, pay 12% UK duty, with no anti-dumping duty. Shirt features decide the code against T-shirts, and fibre labels must use permitted names. Cambridge China Bridge sources women's knitted tops.
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A flat 12%
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, women's or girls' knitted or crocheted blouses, shirts and shirt-blouses of heading 6106, of cotton, man-made fibres, wool, silk, flax or other textiles, carried 12% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure.
Heading 6106 covers garments with an opening at the neck, a collar or other shirt features; plain T-shirts and vests are in heading 6109 and jumpers in 6110, and woven blouses in 6206, covered in the blouses guide. Confirm the commodity code from the design. For women's tank tops, see our tank top sourcing guide. For jumpers, see our knitted jumper sourcing guide. For UK-to-China trade, see our guide to exporting T-shirts to China. For outerwear sourcing, see our women's knitted anoraks guide.
| Goods | Commodity code | Duty | Anti-dumping duty on China |
|---|---|---|---|
| Of cotton | 6106 10 00 00 | 12% | None |
| Of man-made fibres | 6106 20 00 00 | 12% | None |
| Of wool or fine animal hair | 6106 90 10 00 | 12% | None |
| Of silk or silk waste | 6106 90 30 00 | 12% | None |
| Of flax or ramie | 6106 90 50 00 | 12% | None |
| Of other textile materials | 6106 90 90 00 | 12% | None |
Labels and chemicals
The Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012 require the fibre composition to be shown with permitted fibre names, which matters for viscose, modal and elastane blends that are often mislabelled. Entry 43 of Annex XVII to UK REACH restricts azo dyes that can release listed aromatic amines in textiles in prolonged skin contact, so ask for a test per colour on dark and bright shades.
Worked duty example
An invented example rather than a quote: 8,000 women's cotton jersey shirts, commodity code 6106 10 00 00, bought for £28,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance, so £30,000 is the value customs works from. Duty at the 12% rate for women's knitted shirts is £3,600. VAT at 20% applies to £33,600, so £6,720. A VAT-registered buyer usually recovers the VAT, so the border adds £3,600 to the landed cost. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.
Inspection checklist
Fabric strength and comfort: bursting strength of the knitted fabric to ISO 13938-2, pilling to ISO 12945-2, and colour fastness to perspiration to ISO 105-E04 and to washing to ISO 105-C06, each against a grade agreed before bulk and tested on the dyed production fabric.
Stability after washing: dimensional change to ISO 6330 and ISO 5077 on finished garments, spirality of side seams to ISO 16322-3, and collar and placket flatness checked after the same wash, with limits for length and width change written into the order.
Make-up and inspection: opacity checked against a reference card under daylight and shop lighting, button pull tests at an agreed load, fibre content on the label checked against a test report, measurements of every size against the size chart, and a final random inspection sampled to ISO 2859-1 at the agreed quality level.
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What goes wrong
Knitted shirts and blouses fail on shrinkage, twist and sheerness. Jersey that is not compacted shrinks in length and side seams twist around the body after washing, viscose knits grow and lose shape, and lightweight fabrics are see-through under shop lighting. Collars and plackets made with the wrong interlining ripple, and buttons on knitted fabric pull out without a reinforcing tape.
Test shrinkage, spirality and colour fastness on bulk fabric, check opacity in daylight and under shop lights, wash-test finished garments to check collars and plackets, pull-test buttons, and measure garments from every size at inspection.
Cambridge China Bridge sources women's knitted shirts, blouses and tops, with fabric tests, fit and labels agreed before the order. See how we source womenswear. For cycling shorts, see our women's cycling shorts sourcing guide. For menswear, see our men's knitted suits and trousers guide. For petticoats, see our guide to sourcing women's knitted petticoats. For swimwear, see our competitive swimming suit sourcing guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK import duty on women's knitted blouses from China?
Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, women's and girls' knitted blouses and shirts of heading 6106 carried 12% duty from China.
Is a knitted T-shirt in heading 6106?
No. Plain T-shirts and vests are in heading 6109; 6106 covers shirts and blouses with shirt features.
Why do jersey side seams twist?
Spirality in the knitted fabric; test it on the bulk fabric before cutting.
Which REACH entry covers azo dyes?
Entry 43 of Annex XVII restricts azo dyes that release listed aromatic amines.