Clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh for UK brands

For start-ups and small brands in the UK: minimums and the first order

Our own orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour, which is also the minimum for T-shirts and hoodies. Denim, jackets, woven shirts, workwear and uniforms start at 2,000; underwear at 5,000 pieces and socks at 5,000 pairs; for every other category the exact minimum is confirmed on your quote. Orders below 500 pieces go through the small-run route on our low MOQ page, made by our sister company, Collective Studio Ltd., which prices them separately.

Clothing from Bangladesh enters the UK at 0% duty under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme when the origin paperwork is right, and import VAT is 20%, with most children’s clothing zero-rated, so a small brand costs its landed price with VAT and recovers it once VAT-registered. Bangladesh is a road British retailers built decades ago, so the freight routes, customs codes and label rules on this page are well trodden. A first order needs a tech pack or a reference garment, a target quantity per style and colour, your market and the label wording you need. The quote states the shipping term (FOB, CIF or DDP) and your category minimum in writing, you approve a sample before bulk, and the factory that will make your order is named to you before production, with its address, certificates and audit reports.

• Minimum: 500 pieces per style and colour, higher in some categories
• The quote states the shipping term and your category minimum in writing
• Sample approved before bulk; factory named before production, with its documents

UK import duty on clothing from Bangladesh

Bangladesh is in the Comprehensive Preferences tier of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS). The government’s guide to the tiers says this one gives 0% import tariffs on 99.8% of products: everything except arms and ammunition. The four garment codes in the table below all show 0% for the tier in the UK Trade Tariff.

If no preference is claimed, or the claim fails, the fallback is the UK Global Tariff: 12% on each of those codes. Most garments sewn in Bangladesh from imported fabric can qualify for 0%, with valid proof of origin, as the section on proof of origin explains.

HMRC’s Overseas Trade Statistics record £3.17bn of UK clothing imports (SITC 84) from Bangladesh in 2025, 18.5% of a £17.12bn total and second only to China at £3.59bn. From January to August 2026, on provisional figures, China was slightly ahead: 19.7%, against Bangladesh’s 18.9%. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade puts clothing at £3.3bn, or 92.0% of all UK goods imports from Bangladesh, in the year to March 2026.

Duty now separates Bangladesh from China, which has no preference and pays 12% on these codes. It does not separate it from India, Vietnam or Pakistan: the Trade Tariff shows all three at 0%, India since its trade agreement with the UK came into force on 15 July 2026. Our guide Bangladesh vs Vietnam vs China vs India compares those four; our Bangladesh vs Pakistan guide covers Pakistan.

How a UK order is made in Bangladesh: minimum order quantities, samples and inspection

CMB Sourcing Ltd. is a manufacturer and buying house in Narayanganj, Dhaka. Knitwear and caps are made in our own factory, the factory of our sister company, Collective Studio Ltd.; denim, leather and everything else in an audited partner factory that suits the order. Minimums start at 500 pieces per style and colour, which is also the minimum for T-shirts and hoodies; denim, jackets, woven shirts, workwear and uniforms start at 2,000; underwear at 5,000 pieces; and socks at 5,000 pairs. Our garments buying house guide explains how the model works, and our private label clothing and quality control pages go further. An order runs in this sequence:

• Send your tech pack or brief through our contact page, with quantities per style and colour, your fabric and whether you want FOB, CIF or DDP to your UK address. We reply within one working day.
• We name the factory making your order in writing before production, with its address, certificates and audit reports.
• You approve a sample or report at each stage.
• Bulk fabric is tested against the approved swatch before cutting.
• Quality is checked on the line, and an AQL final inspection, which checks a random sample against an agreed defect limit, runs before shipment. We send you the report.
• We prepare the export documents and the certificate of origin your broker needs to claim 0%.
• We ship FOB or CIF from Chattogram sea port or Dhaka airport, or DDP to your door.

Importing clothes from Bangladesh to the UK, step by step

Here are the importer’s jobs in order, based on GOV.UK’s step-by-step guide to importing; the sections below cover the ones specific to clothing from Bangladesh.

• Choose a supplier and get, in writing, the name and address of the factory making your order, with its certificates and audit reports. Our guide 12 red flags when choosing a clothing manufacturer lists the checks.
• Get an EORI number that starts with GB; without the right one, GOV.UK warns of delays and extra costs such as storage.
• Decide who will make the customs declaration and move the goods: you, or a customs broker or freight forwarder you appoint.
• Agree a commodity code for every style, and note its UK Global Tariff rate as your fallback; our HS codes for clothing guide explains how.
• Check whether your goods need an import licence. GOV.UK’s import controls cover goods such as firearms, nuclear materials and sanctioned goods; clothing is not on the list.
• Decide how you will pay import VAT. Postponed VAT accounting is open to UK VAT-registered businesses and needs no approval, but your broker needs your written confirmation.
• For childrenswear, check garment measurements against the tables in VAT Notice 714 before sizes are graded.
• Settle label content before sampling: fibre composition in English using the approved fibre names, plus your name, address and a product or batch reference.
• Check your packaging duties: packaging EPR starts above 25 tonnes a year with turnover of £1 million or more, and Plastic Packaging Tax at 10 tonnes of plastic packaging in 12 months.
• Ask the supplier for a Form A or an origin declaration with every shipment. On arrival, the import declaration claims the preference and accounts for any duty and import VAT due.
• Keep the import declaration, proof of origin and supporting documents for at least 4 years, and VAT records, including any C79 import VAT certificate, generally for at least 6.

Claiming 0% duty: Form A and origin declarations under the DCTS

The importer claims the preference in the customs import declaration, usually through a broker. The exporter supplies the proof. GOV.UK accepts two documents: a Form A, which needs no stamp or signature from a Bangladeshi authority and is accepted as a copy, or an origin declaration on the invoice, packing list or consignment note that identifies the originating goods. Both are valid for 2 years from the date of issue.

If the preference was missed at import, the importer can claim it within 2 years of importation, with a valid proof of origin. HMRC can verify claims afterwards, and exporters must keep production records for 3 years.

For least developed countries, the DCTS rule for garments assembled from pieces of knitted fabric (Chapter 61) and for most woven garments (Chapter 62) is manufacture from fabric. A T-shirt cut and sewn in Bangladesh from imported jersey meets it. For any code outside those chapters, check the rule with your broker.

We prepare the export documents and certificate of origin; the commodity codes and the claim itself stay with you and your broker. A complete pack for one shipment:

• Form A or an origin declaration from the exporter
• Commercial invoice
• Packing list that agrees with the invoice
• Bill of lading or air waybill
• Your copy of the import declaration

Customs codes that claim 0% duty: 9001, N865 and preference code 200

The preference is claimed in the import declaration, which your broker usually makes on HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS). HMRC’s DCTS guidance and the UK Trade Tariff page for a knitted cotton T-shirt from Bangladesh name the same codes: in data element (DE) 2/3, document code 9001 for an origin declaration or N865 for a Form A; in DE 4/17, a preference code in the 200 series. We checked both pages, and HMRC’s code lists behind them, on 23 September 2026.

HMRC’s list of preference codes describes 200 as the DCTS rate without conditions or limits; the other 200-series codes cover tariff quotas, suspensions, end-use and special certificates, and several are marked as not in use. In the Trade Tariff’s data for the T-shirt code, the DCTS rate carries code 200 and the 12% third-country duty carries code 100, which means no preference is claimed. Once DE 4/17 starts with a digit other than 1, DE 5/16, the country of preferential origin, is mandatory: enter the country shown on the proof of origin, and give the country of origin in DE 5/15 as well, even when it is the same.

Each document code also takes a status code from HMRC’s Appendix 5B, showing whether the document is attached, with the goods, held by the trader or unavailable; AE, for example, means attached and used only for this entry. The reference entered is the invoice number for 9001 and the certificate number for N865. The Trade Tariff lists the same DE 2/3 and DE 4/17 codes for the Enhanced tier, where current rules move Bangladesh after its transition. On Northern Ireland declarations, HMRC’s list says code 200 refers to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) instead, so ask your broker about goods going there.

Bangladesh LDC graduation and what it means for UK duty on clothing

The UN LDC Portal gives 24 November 2029 as the date Bangladesh is scheduled to leave the Least Developed Country category. On 18 February 2026 the UN Committee for Development Policy received Bangladesh’s request for a longer preparatory period, reported as three years. The Committee found an extension appropriate, provided Bangladesh makes significant progress on domestic reforms, and on 21 July 2026 the UN Economic and Social Council passed the request to the General Assembly. On 29 October 2026 the General Assembly extended the preparatory period by three years, which moved graduation from 24 November 2026 to 24 November 2029.

Under the DCTS, a graduating country has a transition of 3 years before it moves to Enhanced Preferences, so with graduation on 24 November 2029 the move would come in November 2032. In a letter of 19 August 2026, reported by The Daily Star, the British High Commission in Dhaka said access stays unchanged for those three years, and that Bangladesh then moves directly into Enhanced Preferences with access for knitwear and woven garments unchanged.

The Trade Tariff shows 0% for the Enhanced tier on all four codes in the table above, and GOV.UK says the apparel rules of origin for Chapters 61 and 62 will remain the same on the move. The Enhanced tier gives 0% on 92% of product lines rather than 99.8%, so each code is worth checking.

DCTS goods graduation, which suspends preferences on goods judged competitive, currently applies only to the Standard Preferences tier, India and Indonesia, for 2026 to 2028. That is current policy, not a guarantee, so ask your broker to re-check your codes before the move. Our LDC graduation guide has more.

Import VAT on clothing from Bangladesh: customs value and the children’s clothing zero rate

Duty is charged on the customs value, not on the price you agreed. The customs value includes transport, insurance, loading and handling charges up to where the goods enter the UK: the port of importation for sea freight, or the point where the flight first crosses the UK border. On an FOB purchase, freight and insurance to the UK are added.

Import VAT is charged on the customs value plus any duty, plus incidental costs such as transport and insurance up to their first destination in the UK. The standard rate on clothing is 20%. So at 12%, £100,000 of customs value carries £12,000 of duty and at least £22,400 of import VAT, charged on at least £112,000. With a valid DCTS claim there is no duty, and the VAT is at least £20,000. A VAT-registered business can account for import VAT through postponed VAT accounting, and can reclaim the VAT on imported goods it owns, subject to the normal rules.

Young children’s clothing is the exception. VAT Notice 714 zero-rates items that meet four conditions: they are clothing or footwear, they are not made of fur, they are designed for young children, and they are only suitable for young children. HMRC accepts that a garment is designed for young children when it is at or within the measurement tables in the notice, which are based on children up to the eve of their 14th birthday. The UK Trade Tariff carries the same zero rate at import, as a VAT zero rate additional code.

Above the tables, a garment can still be zero-rated if it is designed to the body measurements in paragraph 4.2.2 of the notice and is only suitable for young children, or if it is uniform made under an agreement with a school exclusively for under-14s and unique to that school. A larger garment restricted to under-14s by some other design feature needs HMRC’s written agreement first. Check the size chart against the tables before grading, and confirm your styles with your accountant.

Landed cost of a T-shirt from Bangladesh per piece: 0% or 12% duty

Here is what the claim is worth on one knitted cotton T-shirt, commodity code 6109 10 00 10. The prices are illustrative, not a quote and not our price: a factory price of £3.60 and £0.40 of sea freight and insurance to the UK port. Duty is charged on the customs value, here £4.00, the price plus freight and insurance to the UK port. The UK Trade Tariff, checked on 23 September 2026, gives 0% for Bangladesh under the DCTS, 12% third-country duty without a preference, and import VAT at the standard rate of 20%, with no excise duty on this code. HMRC charges that VAT on the customs value plus the duty.

On 1,000 pieces, a valid claim saves £480 of duty, and £96 of import VAT for a business that cannot reclaim it, such as a UK business not registered for VAT. Postponed VAT accounting and reclaiming, explained in the VAT section above, apply as normal to a VAT-registered business. If the claim was missed at import, HMRC may repay that duty through the 2-year route described in the section on Form A and origin declarations.

The example stops at the UK port. The broker’s fee, port and handling charges and delivery to your warehouse come on top, and HMRC adds incidental costs like these, up to the goods’ first destination in the UK, to the value for VAT. An invoice in US dollars is converted to pounds under HMRC’s rules. Young children’s clothing that qualifies under VAT Notice 714 is zero-rated, so its VAT line would be £0.00; the VAT section above explains the tests. Our landed cost calculator adds freight, insurance, duty, clearance and delivery to your own price per piece, leaving VAT out; confirm the final numbers with your customs broker.

Shipping from Bangladesh to the UK: FOB, CIF or DDP, transit and landed cost

We quote FOB from Chattogram sea port or Dhaka airport, CIF to your UK port, or DDP to your UK address.

Forwarders’ published estimates for Bangladesh to the UK are 22 to 30 days and 47 to 50 days by sea, and 2 to 12 days by air depending on the service. These are transit times only, and production comes first: SEKO Logistics estimates that Bangladeshi manufacturing typically takes 60 to 120 days from order to shipment, depending on the product and season. That is an industry estimate, not our lead time. Our guides on the clothing production timeline and the Bangladesh garment production calendar explain the stages and the holidays to plan around.

The published schedules are slower than the lower estimate. On 17 October 2026 we read Fluent Cargo’s route pages, which compile carriers’ published sailing schedules: the quickest scheduled sailing from Chattogram to Southampton took 32 days 7 hours, with one change of ship, and to Tilbury 67 days, with two. Fluent Cargo has no Chattogram route page for Felixstowe or London Gateway. These are the fastest scheduled sailings, not the usual one and not a promise: a slower service or a missed connection adds days, and the time to the Chattogram cut-off and from the terminal to your warehouse comes on top. Since late 2023 most container lines have sent their Europe services around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks in the Red Sea. In September 2026 Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd moved more Asia–Europe and India–Europe services back to the Suez Canal, on condition that the Red Sea stays stable, and in the first two weeks of October 2026 BIMCO put container ship capacity through the canal at just over half its level in the same weeks of 2023. A booking can change route, and transit time, between quote and sailing.

On a DDP quote, ask who will be named as the importer on the customs declaration. GOV.UK says you can reclaim import VAT on imported goods you own, so whether you can recover it depends on how the sale is set up. Confirm with your accountant before you choose.

Our guides FOB vs DDP and sea vs air freight cover both decisions. The landed cost calculator adds freight, insurance, duty and clearance to an FOB price to give a cost per piece.

Bangladesh compared with making in the UK, Turkey or Portugal: duty, wages and transit

Making in the UK or nearby buys time and, for UK production, a made in Britain label. Bangladesh suits volume you can plan early, since sea freight alone takes weeks. A range can also be split: planned core styles from Bangladesh, quick repeats nearer home.

Clothing from Portugal, under the UK and EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, or from Turkey, under the UK-Turkey trade agreement, enters at 0% only when it meets the product rule of origin, and for clothing that rule reaches back to the fabric. A knitted T-shirt must be knitted and made up (cut and sewn) there. Men’s woven trousers must be woven and made up there, or made up after printing as a standalone operation: printing combined with at least two preparatory or finishing operations, such as bleaching or heat setting, with the materials used (under the EU agreement, the non-originating ones) worth no more than 50% of the ex-works price. Fabric made in the UK or EU also counts for Portugal, and UK or EU-originating materials count for Turkey. Sewn from Asian fabric, the garment usually pays the 12% UK Global Tariff. A Bangladeshi garment only has to meet the DCTS rule, manufacture from fabric, so imported fabric is allowed. All three schemes have tolerances for mixed fibres, so confirm the rule for each code with your broker, and ask the supplier where the fabric is made and whether it will provide the origin statement.

Factory prices are quoted per style, so legal minimum wages are the nearest public pointer. The UK’s is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, from 1 April 2026. Eurostat gives €1,073 a month for Portugal in July 2026, its €920 minimum paid 14 times a year spread over 12, and €621 for Turkey. Bangladesh’s garment minimum is Tk 12,500 a month, set in November 2023, and the annual increment rose from 5% to 9% in salaries from January 2025. The amended Labour Act now requires a review every three years, so the rate falls due for review in November 2026; on 15 October 2026 The Business Standard reported that the government had asked owners’ and workers’ organisations to nominate members for a new wage board. The bases differ, so we have not converted them. Our guide on Bangladesh garment worker wages has the detail.

Minimums are set by each factory in every country, so ask for them per style and colour in writing and compare prices at the same quantity.

Forwarders’ published transit estimates put Portugal at about 5 days to the UK by road, and Turkey at about 8 to 9 days port to port by sea, or 14 to 16 days door to door. Our guide Bangladesh vs Portugal vs Turkey goes further.

Clothing labelling requirements in the UK: the rules for Great Britain

Fibre labelling in Great Britain comes from Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 as it applies in the UK, enforced through the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012. Only the fibre names listed in the regulation may be used, the label must give the name and percentage by weight of every fibre in descending order, and it must be in English. Making a product available in breach is an offence, enforced by local weights and measures authorities, better known as Trading Standards.

Online, the composition must be clearly visible to the consumer before purchase, which means on the product page as well as the label.

The fibre rules cover composition, not care instructions, so a care label follows your buyer’s or marketplace’s specification; our clothing care label symbols guide explains the symbols. The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 add a separate duty: unless it is not reasonable to do so, the producer shows its name and address and the product reference or batch on the product or its packaging. What the label or its packaging should carry:

• Fibre composition: approved names and percentages by weight, in English
• Producer name and address
• Product reference or batch
• Care instructions and size, to your buyer’s or marketplace’s specification
• Country of origin, if your buyer asks for it

UK product safety rules for clothing: drawstrings, nightwear and azo dyes

In Great Britain, clothing falls under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. A brand that puts its name or trade mark on the product counts as a producer, and so does the UK business placing it on the market when the maker is outside the UK with no UK representative. A replacement framework under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 was consulted on from 31 March to 23 June 2026. It is not yet law.

For children’s clothing, the recognised standard for cords and drawstrings is BS EN 14682:2014, covering children up to 14. The Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985 set flammability requirements for children’s nightwear. Pyjamas, babies’ garments and cotton terry towelling bath robes are exempt but must be labelled, as must adults’ nightwear.

Under UK REACH Annex XVII, entry 43, azo dyes that can release listed aromatic amines above 30 mg/kg must not be used in textiles that may be in direct and prolonged contact with the skin, clothing included. A brand may require OEKO-TEX certification or a restricted substances test report as its evidence. Our own check is different: bulk fabric is tested against the approved swatch before cutting.

Northern Ireland differs. EU Regulation 2023/988 has applied there since 13 December 2024 and requires a responsible economic operator in Northern Ireland or the EU. Duty on goods moved there depends on whether they can be declared not at risk, which needs UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation, so ask your broker. GOV.UK’s table of products that need UKCA or CE marking lists personal protective equipment and toys but not clothing, so an ordinary garment, childrenswear included, needs neither mark. Workwear sold as PPE is the case to check with your adviser.

Packaging EPR and Plastic Packaging Tax for clothing importers

Two UK regimes reach clothing importers through their packaging. Under extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, a business established in the UK is obligated if it supplied or imported more than 25 tonnes of packaging in the previous year and had worldwide turnover of £1 million or more. Large producers, above 50 tonnes and £2 million, report every 6 months and pay PackUK a yearly waste disposal fee for household packaging; small producers report once a year.

If another business imports your filled, branded packaging, you are still the producer. Items hung directly on or attached to a product count as packaging where they perform a packaging function, so check how your tags are treated.

You must register for Plastic Packaging Tax once you have imported or made 10 tonnes or more of finished plastic packaging components in the last 12 months, or expect to in the next 30 days. Imported packaging already filled with goods counts, so the polybag on each garment counts, and the tax applies per component: £228.82 a tonne from 1 April 2026 on components with less than 30% recycled plastic. Transport packaging used to bring goods into the UK, such as pallet wrap, is not charged.

From 1 April 2027, under sections 106 and 107 of the Finance Act 2026, pre-consumer plastic no longer counts as recycled plastic for the tax. For polybags ordered now, ask for post-consumer recycled content and a written declaration from the maker, and ask whoever supplies your packaging for component weights for EPR reporting. Confirm your position with your accountant.

Green claims on clothing: what the CMA expects before you say organic or recycled

The Competition and Markets Authority’s guidance for fashion retail, published on 18 September 2024, asks a brand claiming recycled or organic content to state the specific percentage of those fibres in the product. It warns that broad claims such as green, sustainable or eco-friendly are much more likely to mislead, and says each business in the supply chain is responsible for making sure its own claims are accurate and substantiated.

Since 6 April 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the CMA can impose a penalty of up to £300,000 or 10% of turnover, whichever is higher. The same Act bans outright displaying a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation, so a certification logo on a swing tag needs the scheme’s permission. Check each claim, and any logo use, with the scheme and your adviser.

The certificates and audit reports of the factory named for your order show what it is certified for, so check them before you make a claim. Our certifications page explains the schemes, and our guide on how to verify factory certificates in Bangladesh walks through the checks.

Modern slavery statements and the factory documents behind them

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 applies to a commercial organisation supplying goods or services with total turnover of £36 million or more. Each financial year it must publish a slavery and human trafficking statement on the steps, if any, it has taken in its own business and its supply chains. A company’s board approves it, a director signs it, and it is linked from a prominent place on the homepage.

Below the threshold there is no duty. A retailer above it reports on its own supply chains, and if you supply that retailer, the factory making your goods is part of them. The Home Office’s impact assessment for the Immigration and Asylum Bill proposes changes to this reporting, including a central registry, for organisations with turnover of £36 million or more. The Bill was at committee stage in the House of Commons on 17 October 2026, and the Regulatory Policy Committee’s revised opinion of 2 October 2026 gives 2027 as the implementation date. It is a proposal, not law.

When a retailer asks about your supply chain, the audit reports for the factory named for your order are the documents to offer; our guide BSCI vs WRAP vs SMETA compares the three audits.