Garment Regulations in the United States

August 07, 2023
Table of Contents

Planning to import and sell clothing or other textile products in the United States? In this guide, you will learn what every textile importer must know about US textile labeling requirements, fire safety standards, chemicals, and heavy metals restrictions and children’s clothing standards.

Textile Labeling Requirements

Clothing imported and sold in the United States must carry permanent textiles labels. Here’s an overview of what you must include:

Country of Origin

The country of origin requirement is not unique for clothing sold in the United States but applies to all consumer products. The country of origin label must be permanent and accurately state the country in which your product is manufactured.

  • Made in China
  • Made in Vietnam
  • Made in India
  • Made in the USA

Note that relabeling a product in a third country is illegal, but a practice that’s not unheard of.

Fiber Composition

The fiber composition specifies the main fabric type of the product. Here are a few examples:

  • 100% Cotton
  • 100% Polyester
  • 98% Polyester 2% Spandex
  • 100% Nylon

Further, you cannot make false or exaggerated claims. For example, you cannot claim that a product is made of 100% organic cotton unless you can prove this to be the case.

Care Instructions

You can either use written care instructions or use ASTM care symbols. As such, you cannot use non-ASTM care symbols, if you prefer to use graphics instead of text.

Language

The English language is mandatory. However, you can add additional languages if you want.

Permanent

The label must be permanent. You can either use a nylon patch or print on the fabric. That said, a sticker or other non-permanent label is not accepted.

Label files

Don’t expect your supplier to have ready-made US garment label templates. Instead, you must prepare a complete label file which includes this information:

  • Brand/Company name
  • Country of Origin (e.g. Made in Vietnam)
  • Fiber Composition (e.g. 100% Cotton)
  • Care instructions or ASTM care symbols
  • Size

The label file must be sent to the garment supplier before they start production.

Flammable Fabric Act (FFA)

Certain types of clothing, home textiles, and other textile products must comply with the Flammable Fabric Act (FFA). Here’s a summary of the FFA requirements that clothing and textile importers must take into consideration:

1. The FFA prohibits the usage of certain ‘dangerously flammable’ fabrics.

2. However, fabrics weighing more than 88 gsm (grams per square meter) are generally exempt. Note that 88 gsm is considered a very light fabric. For example, most t-shirts are made of fabrics weighing 120 grams per square meter or more.

3. The importer should conduct testing to assess if the fabrics are safe or receive documentation from their manufacturer that testing has already been done. That said, few contract manufacturers in the garment industry can provide this.

CPSIA

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) applies to all children’s products (12 years or younger). Here are a few textile products within the scope of CPSIA:

  • Baby clothing
  • Children’s sleepwear
  • Other children’s clothing
  • Baby blankets
  • Children’s backpacks

Here are the steps you must follow to ensure CPSIA compliance:

Product Safety

All children’s products must comply with relevant ASTM and CPSC standards. These standards cover the following parts:

  • Mechanical safety (e.g. zippers, buttons and sharp edges)
  • Chemicals and heavy metals

Such standards include ASTM F963. That said, you can ask a CPSC approved testing company to confirm which standards apply to your product.

Third-Party Lab Testing

Lab testing is mandatory when importing all sorts of children’s products to the United States, including children’s clothing, babywear, and other children’s apparel. The purpose of the lab test is to verify if the product is compliant with all applicable ASTM and CPSC standards.

After the testing is completed, you’ll receive a test report. This document is used as proof of compliance.

Note that only test reports issued by CPSC approved testing companies, such as Burau Veritas, are valid. Further, the test report should also be booked by the importer, and issued in the importer’s name - not your supplier’s name.

Tracking Label

Each product must carry a permanent tracking label. This information must be included:

  • Importer company
  • Batch ID/Production run ID
  • Product SKU
  • Manufacturing date (Month, Year)
  • Manufacturing location (City, Province, Country)

Keep in mind that you must also include the fiber composition, country of origin and care symbols when importing clothing - as these requirements apply to all garments.

Further, you should not rely on your supplier to create the tracking label file for you. You must, therefore, create the label file (e.g. .ai or .eps format) in a way that it includes the required information.

You should also include this information:

  • Dimensions
  • Color
  • Position

The tracking label must also be permanent, which means that you cannot use a sticker.

Finally, the tracking label must also be checked during the quality inspection. That’s the only way to be sure that the supplier affixed the tracking label.

Children’s Product Certificate

In addition to lab testing and the tracking label, you must also issue a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC). This document is issued by the importer, and you can use the free template provided on the CPSC website.

Product Registration Card

A registration card is mandatory when importing certain types of ‘durable baby products’. This definition also includes soft infant and toddler carriers. More information about the CPSIA registration card can be found on the official CPSC website.

California Proposition 65

California Proposition 65 restricts more than 800 chemicals and heavy metals in consumer products, including textiles for all ages, sold in (or to consumers in) California.

Products containing any of the restricted substances above the set limits are non-compliant.

As an importer, you can either choose to get your product lab tested to verify that the product is California Proposition 65 compliant - or affix a warning label.

Here’s an example:

WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including [INSERT CHEMICAL], which is known to the State of California to cause cancer.

That’s not exactly going to do wonders for your revenue.

While most fabrics are CA Prop 65 compliant, screenprints, metal parts, buttons, and other components can contain excessive amounts of regulated chemicals and heavy metals.

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