Clothing Manufacturer for European Brands

Not at present: Bangladesh-made apparel enters every EU member state duty-free under Everything But Arms, on a single-transformation origin rule that cutting and sewing on our floor meets. Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from LDC status on 24 November 2029, and Regulation (EU) 2026/1395 keeps Everything But Arms for three years after graduation, so to about the end of 2032. The date moved after Bangladesh asked the UN in February 2026 for an extension: the Economic and Social Council referred the request to the General Assembly in July 2026, and the General Assembly granted it on 29 October 2026 (UN LDC portal). VAT is separate and remains payable by you as importer regardless of duty. We ship DDP, so we clear customs, cover any duty owed and quote a landed price. If the duty position affects your pricing, ask us to confirm it for your commodity code at quote stage.

It means every garment you sell to EU consumers needs an economic operator established in the EU who holds the safety file and deals with authorities, and when you import from a factory outside the Union, that operator is your EU company, an importer or an authorised representative you appoint, never the factory. Regulation (EU) 2023/988 has applied since 13 December 2024, and clothing is within its scope. In practice that means four things for each style: a risk analysis, a technical file you keep for ten years, traceability back to the production batch, and the manufacturer's name with postal and electronic addresses on the garment or its packaging. You can only build the file if your manufacturer supplies the data: fibre composition, dye and chemical compliance, traceable production records. We assemble that data during production, can supply azo-dye test reports, and for GOTS orders send our RSC 9687 scope certificate on request. Our GPSR guide covers brands selling into the EU from outside it.

It is the importing member state's standard VAT rate, which runs from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary; Germany's is 19%. Duty is 0% on Bangladesh-made garments under Everything But Arms, but there is no single EU VAT rate. VAT is worked out on the customs value, any duty, and the transport and insurance costs up to the first place of destination in the member state of import. It is due in the member state of importation, which is normally where the goods first enter the Union unless they move on under customs transit and are cleared elsewhere. If you land in one country and warehouse in another, tell us the routing before we quote. On DDP orders import VAT sits inside the landed price. Import VAT is normally recoverable if you are VAT-registered, so ask us to confirm in writing, before shipping, which company the import entry will name. Our landed cost calculator takes your member state's rate.

Fibre composition, in the right language, on a durable label: Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 requires the generic name and percentage by weight of every fibre in descending order, easily legible, in the official language or languages of the member state where the garment is sold, so a range sold in Germany and France needs German and French. Country of origin is not required by that regulation, but customs declarations state it and any origin claim you print must be true. Under the General Product Safety Regulation the manufacturer's name and postal and electronic address must appear on the product or packaging, and an EU-established responsible operator has to exist for the product. Care symbols are not compulsory under EU law but retailers expect them. We sew the label to your artwork in the languages you specify; you tell us the markets. Verified 19 September 2026 against the regulations linked under Sources.

Yes: our European office is at Soetendaal 61, 1081 BN Amsterdam, and it serves brands in every member state, while the garments on this page are cut and sewn on our own floor in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. It exists so you can work with us in your own hours. Bangladesh Standard Time is UTC+6 with no daylight saving, four to five hours ahead of Central European Time, so your morning overlaps our afternoon and Amsterdam covers the rest of your working day for design conversations, samples and compliance paperwork. What the office is not: a second factory, or automatically your GPSR responsible operator. The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 gives that role to your EU company, an importer or an authorised representative you appoint, and our Amsterdam office can hold the technical file where that suits your structure. If you want to see the floor itself, ask us for a live video walk-round during a working shift.

It does not satisfy GPSR on its own — the two are related but distinct, and conflating them is a common mistake worth avoiding. Regulation (EU) 2023/988 requires a responsible person established in the EU and a technical file covering materials, testing and traceability held for ten years — that is a legal obligation, and no certification substitutes for it. Where GOTS helps is that most of the technical file's substance already exists as a by-product of certification: documented fibre origin, chemical inputs restricted and recorded, chain-of-custody paperwork through every processing stage, and audited supplier records. Assembling a technical file from a certified chain is straightforward; assembling one from an uncertified supply chain often is not. We build the file during production and hand it over with the shipment, and our Amsterdam office can hold the file where that suits your structure.

One hundred and fifty pieces per style, per colour. For an EU brand there is a second consideration beyond quantity: GPSR. Regulation (EU) 2023/988 requires a responsible person established in the EU and a technical file kept for ten years covering materials, testing and traceability. That file has to be built during production, not reconstructed afterwards, so we assemble it as we go and hand it over with the shipment. Practically, that means a first order of three to five hundred pieces across two or three styles is the sensible shape — enough to justify the compliance work once and reuse it on reorders. Each extra colour needs its own hundred and fifty pieces and triggers separate fabric and dye lots, so one colour deep beats three shallow. You can model that colour split in our free MOQ calculator.

A statement on origin, not a certificate. Under the EU's GSP, which includes Everything But Arms, the proof for Bangladeshi clothing is a declaration printed on the commercial invoice or another commercial document by an exporter registered in the EU's REX system, quoting its REX number and stating that the goods originate in Bangladesh. Your customs entry relies on it to claim the 0% rate. Without valid proof the standard rate for the commodity code is charged instead, roughly 12% on most knitted apparel, and import VAT is then calculated on that duty as well. Origin comes from the work: cutting and sewing in Bangladesh confers origin even where the fabric was imported, and that work happens on our floor. On a DDP order the statement travels with our forwarder's entry; with your own forwarder it goes to your broker with the invoice and packing list. Our guide to importing clothing into the EU covers the rest of the entry.

Usually where your stock will be held. Duty is settled once, at entry: after release for free circulation in one member state the goods have EU status and move to the others without another customs declaration, and for our garments that duty is 0% under Everything But Arms. Import VAT is the part that follows the entry point. It is charged at the rate of the member state where the goods are released, so stock cleared at Rotterdam and warehoused in Germany carries Dutch VAT, unless the entry uses customs procedure 42, which exempts the import when the goods go straight on to another member state and leaves the VAT to be paid there (European Court of Auditors). Moving your own stock across a border later can also mean a VAT registration there, so ask your VAT adviser. Tell us the warehouse and the markets, and we set the entry point and the label languages in the quote.