Most buyers obsess over the per-piece price and then get surprised by what happens after the factory gates. Freight, duty, documents and labelling are where a good margin quietly disappears. This is the part nobody shows you on a product page.

First decide who is responsible for what

Three terms cover almost every lingerie order:

  • EXW — you collect from the factory. Cheapest on paper, most work for you.
  • FOB — the factory delivers to the port and clears export. You pay freight and import duty. This is the most common way to buy from China, and it is what we quote by default.
  • DDP — the seller delivers to your door with duty paid. Simplest for you, and the price carries the freight and duty risk.

We ship FOB China or DDP, and export documents are arranged from Shanghai port. Ask for the same Incoterm on every quotation you compare — an FOB price and a DDP price are not comparable numbers.

The HS code decides your duty rate

Your duty is not a flat percentage on "lingerie". Customs classifies the goods by HS code, and the code follows the garment type and the knit/woven construction. Two codes cover most of this catalogue:

  • 6212.10 — brassieres.
  • 6212.30 — corsets, corselettes, girdles and similar articles, including most steel-boned corsets and waist-shaping pieces.

Sleepwear splits by construction — knitted pyjamas and woven pyjamas sit under different headings — so ask your broker to confirm the code against the actual sample rather than the product name. We state the code on the commercial invoice so your broker works from the same number we do.

We will not quote you a duty percentage. Rates change, they depend on origin and destination, and a number invented in a blog post is how importers end up with a surprise bill. Your customs broker gives you that figure.

The documents that travel with the goods

Every export order leaves with a proforma invoice, a commercial invoice and a packing list; sea freight adds the bill of lading, air freight the air waybill. Certificate copies are available for verification on request. If a supplier cannot produce these on demand, that is your signal to stop.

Transit times to plan around

Sea freight to the US and EU runs 25–40 days port to port. Air and express run 3–7 days door to door. Neither number includes production: samples take 7–10 days per round and bulk production runs 15–20 working days after sample approval. Work backwards from your selling season, not forwards from your purchase order.

If you sell into the EU: GPSR

The EU General Product Safety Regulation requires economic operators to be identifiable on the product or its packaging. As the manufacturer we publish our full legal identity for exactly this purpose: Taizhou Glory Import & Export Co., Ltd., Building B, Huacheng Tower, Medical High-tech Zone, Taizhou, Jiangsu, China, with a contact email and phone number. Put that on your label and your importer obligations are far simpler.

Fibre composition, care instructions and origin labelling remain your responsibility as the importer or brand owner — we supply the underlying composition data per style.

If you sell into the US

US rules centre on textile labelling: fibre content, country of origin, and care instructions, in the prescribed order. Adult apparel is not subject to the children's sleepwear flammability rules, but if you extend a sleepwear style into kids' sizes, treat it as a different product category with different testing. We will tell you when a style crosses that line.

Amazon FBA preparation

FBA preparation is supported. Send your prep requirements with the order — FNSKU labelling, poly bagging, carton marking — and we quote them with the goods rather than after the fact. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a first FBA shipment sits in a warehouse instead of going live.

Payment, plainly

Two options: 100% with the order, or 30% deposit with the balance paid before shipment. Both are standard for factory-direct orders; anything wildly outside that pattern — no deposit, or full payment months ahead — deserves a second look.

The short version

Confirm the Incoterm, confirm the HS code with your broker, keep the three core documents, and plan backwards from your season. If you want the shipped cost for a specific set of styles, send the list and destination port and we will quote FOB and DDP side by side.