Swimwear manufacturer in Bangladesh

Swimwear made in Bangladesh enters the UK, the EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand at 0% duty under each market’s scheme for least developed countries, with a DCTS declaration or Form A for the UK, a REX statement for the EU, and the local-content rules of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Swim fabric is almost always an imported nylon or polyester with elastane, so ask us to confirm the origin position for your market before you commit; for the EU and UK a knitted garment cut and sewn in Bangladesh qualifies, while Australia’s 50% local-content test is about cost. The United States is the expensive market for swimwear: 24.9% for women’s synthetic swimwear under HTSUS 6112.41.00 and 25.9% for men’s under 6112.31.00, plus the 10% Section 301 tariff on Bangladeshi goods from 24 July 2026, with no preference to claim. VAT or GST at import applies everywhere except the US and is recovered by a registered business.

Start from where the swimwear will be worn. Nylon–elastane tricot is the classic fashion swim fabric: soft, glossy and very stretchy, with good colour for prints. Its weakness is chlorine, which attacks elastane first, so a suit worn mainly in pools loses its stretch and bags over a season. For pool and training wear, choose a chlorine-resistant blend or PBT polyester, which keeps its shape far longer at some cost to softness and stretch. Polyester–elastane takes sublimation prints well and resists fading. Recycled nylon and recycled polyester, certified to the Global Recycled Standard, give a traceable sustainability story. Weight matters too: around 180 to 220 GSM keeps light colours opaque when wet. Ask for fabric options with their test data before sampling, so you choose on performance rather than on how the swatch feels dry.

At minimum, colour fastness to the water it will meet. ISO 105-E03 tests fastness to chlorinated swimming-pool water, with 50 and 100 mg/l of active chlorine the concentrations intended for swimwear, and ISO 105-E02 tests fastness to sea water. Both catch the bleeding and fading that causes returns. Add a stretch and recovery test after chlorine exposure for pool styles, and wet opacity checks on light colours. If you want to claim sun protection, the rating has to come from a laboratory: AS/NZS 4399 in Australia and New Zealand, EN 13758 in Europe, and AATCC 183 with ASTM D6544 in the US, where the fabric is washed, exposed to light and to chlorinated water before it is measured. Children’s swimwear also has to meet the cord and drawstring rules of your market. Have the tests done at an accredited laboratory and see the reports before bulk.

We publish no prices: a basic swimwear piece is a standard nylon-elastane fabric in a stock colour with a simple lining and standard elastic; chlorine-resistant or PBT fabric, full lining, cups and pad pockets, hardware such as rings and sliders, sublimation prints and laboratory testing for chlorine and sea-water fastness each add to it and are quoted as separate lines. Our own orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour; the exact minimum for swimwear is confirmed on your quote, and it often applies per print as well. Send us a reference piece or a tech pack with the fabric, lining and support details, and we will confirm the route, the minimum and the price within one working day.

Fit and opacity are both tested wet, because swimwear is worn wet. At the sample stage the pre-production sample is tried on-body, wetted and stretched, and pale colours are checked for opacity; if a fabric shows through, the lining is extended or the fabric weight is raised before bulk. The measurement chart specifies both relaxed and stretched dimensions for leg openings, straps and waistbands, because a fabric with 30 per cent stretch measured relaxed tells you little about how it sits on a body. Elastics are specified per edge and should be tested for recovery after chlorine exposure so edges do not roll or perish. Cups, pads and underwires are checked for placement and comfort on the fit sample, and hardware for corrosion. The sealed sample that results is the standard bulk is judged against, and the final inspection includes wet measurements on a random sample, not only dry ones.

Swimwear can be made through us in recycled nylon or recycled polyester, and you can label it recycled when a certificate chain supports the percentage you print. The usual proof is the Global Recycled Standard. Textile Exchange, which owns it, says the GRS can be used business to business from 20% recycled content, but consumer-facing labelling needs at least 50%. The percentage is worked out on the whole blend, elastane included: a fabric that is four-fifths recycled nylon clears the threshold, and the label should state that share instead of calling the whole suit recycled. Ask for the mill’s scope certificate and a transaction certificate covering your own fabric lot before bulk. Recycled yarn still has to pass the same chlorinated-water and sea-water colour fastness tests as virgin yarn, so approve it on test reports. Which certificates the factory holds is confirmed in writing on your quote.

Board shorts and woven swim shorts do not pay the same US duty as knitted swimsuits, and some board shorts are not classed as swimwear. Knitted swimsuits, bikinis and trunks fall under heading 6112, where women’s synthetic swimwear pays 24.9% and men’s 25.9%. Woven men’s and boys’ swimwear falls under 6211.11: 27.8% in man-made fibres (HTSUS 6211.11.10) and 7.5% under the “other” line, which includes cotton (6211.11.80). In ruling N293683 of 12 February 2018, US Customs and Border Protection found that a men’s polyester short without an elasticised waistband and threaded drawstring was not swimwear, and classified it as shorts under 6203.43.90, which pays 27.9%. We checked these rates in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule on 1 October 2026; the 10% Section 301 tariff on Bangladeshi goods from 24 July 2026 comes on top. Give your customs broker the fabric construction, fibre percentages, waistband, drawcord and liner details, because the classification follows them.

Starting a swimwear brand with a manufacturer in Bangladesh begins with four decisions made before you ask for a price: where the suit will be worn, which fabric, how it is lined and supported, and how many pieces per style and colour. Pool use points to chlorine-resistant polyester or PBT and beach use to nylon-elastane, and that choice sets the tests the fabric must pass. Then put the range on paper: a tech pack or reference piece for each style, with measurements relaxed and stretched. Keep a first range narrow. Our orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour, and the exact swimwear minimum, which often applies per print as well, is confirmed on your quote; ask there whether a bikini top and bottom count as one style or two. Swim fabric is almost always imported into Bangladesh, so settle the fabric first and approve the fit sample wet before bulk.

Children’s swimwear is children’s clothing in law, so the rules on our kidswear page apply to it on top of the swim tests. In the UK and EU, EN 14682 covers cords and drawstrings on children’s clothing up to the age of 14, which matters for the waist cord on swim shorts and the ties on bikinis. In the US, swimwear designed for children aged 12 and under is a children’s product: it needs reports from a CPSC-accepted laboratory, a Children’s Product Certificate issued by the importer, and a permanent tracking label on the garment and its packaging. The CPSC does not require lead testing of textiles coloured only with dyes, but heat-transfer vinyl logos and metal parts such as rings and sliders are subject to the total lead limit, and painted or coated parts to the limit for surface coatings. Flammability is rarely the hurdle: plain-surface fabrics of 2.6 ounces per square yard (about 88 GSM) or more are exempt from testing under 16 CFR 1610, and the swim fabrics on this page are well above that, though the certificate must still cite the rule. Send the age range with your enquiry, because it decides which of these apply.

Because the fabric you approved at sampling and the fabric your order is cut from are usually different dye lots, and colour fastness belongs to the lot. Fastness to chlorine and sea water depends on the dye, the depth of shade and how well the dye was fixed and washed off at the mill, and each of those can vary from one lot to the next. So the bulk lot goes to an accredited laboratory before cutting and is tested by the same methods and conditions as the sample: ISO 105-E03 at the chlorine strength in your tech pack, 50 or 100 mg/l for swimwear, and ISO 105-E02 for sea water, graded on the same grey scales against the lowest grade you set. A lot that fails should not be cut until the mill has re-treated or replaced it and the new lot passes, and you are told how that moves the date. Prints are treated the same way, because a print can fail where the base fabric passed.