Apparel is one of the most regulated product categories in US customs, not because any single rule is exotic, but because two federal agencies with different mandates both have requirements you need to satisfy at the same time. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) governs what has to be on the label; US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) governs what happens at the border, including duty assessment and origin marking enforcement. This guide lays out the shape of both, along with the honest limits of what a sourcing guide can tell you — apparel duty rates and country-specific tariff actions change often enough that the specific numbers should always be confirmed with a licensed customs broker before you commit to an order, not taken as fixed from an article.
FTC labeling requirements: fiber content, origin and identity
Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act and the Wool Products Labeling Act, enforced by the FTC, almost every textile garment sold in the US needs a label disclosing three things: the generic fiber names and percentages by weight in descending order (for example, "60% Cotton, 40% Polyester"), the country where the garment was processed or manufactured, and the identity of the manufacturer or importer — either the company name or a Registered Identification Number (RN) issued by the FTC. This label needs to be attached in a way that's accessible to the consumer before purchase, not just sewn in somewhere buried in the garment. It's worth understanding this is separate from, but overlapping with, CBP's country-of-origin marking requirement under customs law, which exists to inform the ultimate purchaser where an imported article was made, generally in a conspicuous, legible and permanent location. In practice, a well-designed neck label that states fiber content, country of origin and RN number or importer identity typically satisfies both requirements at once — but the two rules come from different statutes with different enforcement bodies, and it's worth confirming your specific label copy against both before your first shipment rather than assuming one covers the other.
The Care Labeling Rule
Separately, the FTC's Care Labeling Rule requires most garments to carry a permanent label with instructions for regular care — washing, drying, ironing, bleaching or dry cleaning as applicable — or, where no reasonable care method exists, an explicit statement to that effect. This is often combined with the fiber-content and origin information on a single sewn-in label, but it's a distinct legal requirement with its own compliance standard, not an optional nicety. If you're developing labels for a new brand, get your label copy reviewed against the current FTC guidance before your first production run, since a technically incomplete label is a fixable design problem before printing and a costly one after.
How HTS classification actually drives your duty rate
Every garment entering the US is classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), with apparel sitting mainly in Chapters 61 (knitted or crocheted) and 62 (not knitted or crocheted, i.e. woven). Within those chapters, the exact 10-digit HTS code — and therefore the duty rate — depends on a combination of factors: fiber content, whether the garment is knit or woven, garment type, and sometimes construction details like whether it's designed for men, women, or is unisex. This is why two garments that look similar on a hanger, one cotton and one polyester-blend, one knit and one woven, can carry meaningfully different duty rates. General MFN (most-favoured-nation) duty rates on apparel commonly range from single digits up to the low thirty-percent range depending on these factors, with synthetic-fibre garments often sitting toward the higher end of that range and some natural-fibre categories lower — but this is a broad pattern, not a number you should plan a budget around without getting your specific garment classified. On top of standard MFN rates, country-specific additional tariffs (imposed under various US trade actions) have shifted meaningfully and repeatedly in recent years, including rates specifically affecting India, and these are exactly the kind of detail that can change between when you read this and when you place an order. Get a formal or informal HTS classification for your specific garment from a licensed customs broker before finalising pricing, and ask them directly what current country-specific duty actions apply — don't rely on a general guide, including this one, for the number you'll actually be assessed.
Basics every first-time garment importer should have in place
Beyond labeling and classification, a first-time importer needs an Importer of Record (either the brand itself or a customs broker acting on its behalf) responsible for the entry, a commercial invoice and packing list that match the actual shipment in detail, and — depending on shipment value and mode — an Importer Security Filing for ocean freight submitted before the goods are loaded. Bonded entry, ISF timing and any product-specific requirements (for example, additional documentation for wool products under the Wool Act, or flammability standards under the Flammable Fabrics Act for certain garment categories) are all things a competent customs broker will walk you through, and this is genuinely not a process worth attempting without one on your first import — broker fees are a small fraction of the cost of a shipment held at port over a documentation or classification error.
De minimis, low-value shipments and other moving pieces
Beyond standard commercial entries, US import rules include provisions for lower-value shipments that have themselves been subject to significant policy change in recent years, including tightened treatment of low-value parcels that were previously eligible for simplified, often duty-free entry. If your go-to-market plan involves shipping individual orders directly to US consumers from overseas rather than importing in bulk to a US-based warehouse, the rules governing that channel are genuinely different from bulk commercial import and have shifted meaningfully — this is another area where a general guide can tell you the concept exists but not the current threshold or treatment, both of which are worth confirming directly with your broker or freight forwarder against the rules in effect at the time you ship. The broader pattern worth internalising is that US trade policy affecting apparel, particularly country-specific tariff actions, has moved more often and more substantially in recent years than in prior decades, which makes "confirm current rates before you commit to pricing" less of a boilerplate caveat and more of an operationally necessary step for every new order, not just your first one.
Documentation accuracy: where most avoidable delays start
A large share of customs delays that first-time importers experience trace back not to duty rates at all, but to documentation that doesn't match the physical shipment in enough detail — a commercial invoice describing "cotton t-shirts" when the actual garments are a cotton-polyester blend, or a fiber content percentage that was estimated rather than confirmed against the actual fabric used in production. Because HTS classification and FTC label accuracy both depend on fiber content being correct, any drift between what was ordered, what was actually produced, and what's declared on paperwork creates risk at exactly the point where CBP scrutiny is highest. Building a habit of confirming final fabric composition against your original specification before documentation is finalised — not assuming the fabric that shipped matches the fabric that was quoted — is a small step that prevents a disproportionate number of border delays.
What we handle, and where a broker takes over
On the sourcing side, Tiwari Groups International prepares accurate commercial invoices, packing lists and certificates of origin, and works with buyers to make sure fiber content and construction details are documented clearly enough to support correct HTS classification and FTC-compliant labeling before goods ever leave India — since accurate fiber content data has to originate at the production stage, not be reconstructed at customs. What we don't do, and what no sourcing partner should claim to do, is act as your customs broker or give you a binding duty rate; that determination sits with CBP and the licensed broker handling your entry. If you're also selling into the EU alongside the US, our companion guide on EU textile import rules, labeling and REACH covers the equivalent ground for that market, and our garments sourcing guide has more on how we structure documentation for export.