Clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh for Swiss brands

The tariff was abolished, not waived

On 1 January 2024 Switzerland abolished customs duties on industrial goods. The Swiss federal customs authority states that the abolition covers chapters 25 to 97 of the customs tariff, with a few exceptions in chapters 35 and 38 that are treated as agricultural. Textiles and clothing sit in chapters 50 to 63, squarely inside that range.

The authority’s page adds that no proof of origin is needed for goods that stay in Switzerland: the zero rate does not depend on where the goods were made. This is not a preference granted to developing countries, so there is no beneficiary list to fall off, no proof of origin to file for duty purposes, and nothing that changes when Bangladesh graduates from Least Developed Country status in November 2029. For a brand planning several years ahead, Switzerland is the one market on this site where the duty line simply is not a risk.

Origin still matters if the goods move on

One nuance is worth understanding, because it catches brands who use Switzerland as a European base. Swiss customs distinguishes between goods that stay in Switzerland and goods that are later exported to free trade partners: proof of origin is not needed for the former, but it is needed for the latter.

So if your Swiss warehouse also supplies EU customers, you still want the Bangladeshi origin documentation in the file, because the EU side of that movement has its own rules and its own duty position. Ask us for the origin documents with every shipment regardless; they cost nothing to keep and are impossible to recreate later.

VAT at 8.1%

Import VAT is where Switzerland collects. The standard rate rose to 8.1% on 1 January 2024 and applies to imported goods on the same basis as domestic ones, collected at the border by the customs administration. On 29 November 2026 voters decide whether to raise it to 8.5%, from early 2028 at the earliest, to help finance the 13th AHV pension.

Duty-free is therefore not tax-free, and a landed cost model that omits the 8.1% will be wrong by roughly the margin most brands are arguing over. If you are registered for Swiss VAT you recover it in the normal way; your accountant should confirm the treatment for how you sell.

Switzerland is not the EU, and that costs a clearance

Swiss customs is separate from the EU customs union. If you sell in both Switzerland and the EU, that is two clearances, two sets of import formalities and two sets of rules, even though the countries share borders and often share a language.

Practically, most Bangladeshi goods bound for Switzerland arrive by sea into a northern European or Mediterranean port and travel on by road or rail, or fly into Zurich for urgent drops. Ask your forwarder to quote the whole journey rather than to the port, because the inland leg and the Swiss clearance are a meaningful part of the cost on a landlocked destination.

Labelling, in practice

Because Switzerland is outside the EU, EU textile labelling law does not apply to it automatically. In practice most brands selling into Switzerland and the EU use the same label, built to the EU rules, with fibre composition given in the approved names and, for the Swiss market, usually in German, French and Italian.

We would rather point you at the right question than assert a rule we have not verified: ask your Swiss retailer or importer what label content they require, and tell us at sampling. We build the label to that specification, and you check it on the pre-production sample before approving it. Where your range also sells into the EU, we recommend labelling to the EU standard as the baseline, since it is the stricter of the two starting points.

A textile fee is coming, by industry agreement

Switzerland is outside the EU directive, but the Swiss industry is building its own answer. Fabric Loop, an industry solution for financing and organising a textile circular economy, brings together the association Swiss Textiles and brands including Mammut, Odlo, Calida, PKZ, Workfashion, Switcher and Radys. It works through an advance recycling fee on products placed on the Swiss market, and the fee is expected to become mandatory in 2027 once the federal government has approved the industry solution.

For a brand selling in Switzerland the preparation is the same as for the EU schemes: know the fibre composition and weight of every style, because that is what a fee per product is calculated from. UN Comtrade records US$1.16 billion of Swiss imports from Bangladesh in 2025, US$585 million of it knitted apparel and US$508 million woven, a large market for a country of nine million people, reflecting the Swiss retail groups and brands that buy centrally.

Working with us from Switzerland

Bangladesh is four hours ahead of Switzerland in summer and five in winter. Goods ship by sea from Chattogram to Genoa, Rotterdam or Hamburg and continue by rail or road, or fly into Zurich; we quote FOB Chattogram or DDP to your warehouse, in US dollars, with origin documents on every shipment even though Swiss duty is zero, because goods that move on to the EU need them.

• Factory named before production, with its address, audit report and Accord status
• Fibre-composition label in German, French and Italian as your retailer specifies, approved on the pre-production sample
• Fibre composition and garment weight per style, to request in writing for the Fabric Loop fee
• Quality checks on the line and the AQL final inspection report, then invoice, packing list, transport document and origin statement