What Does a T-Shirt from Bangladesh Cost? Import Price Data 2026

Official import statistics put the average Bangladesh-made cotton T-shirt at US$1.60 a piece entering the United States in 2025, before freight and duty, €1.83 entering the EU and £1.68 entering the UK, both including freight to the border. Those are averages across hundreds of millions of pieces and every buyer, not a quote. A short run in a heavier or organic fabric costs more per piece, and this guide shows why, using the data rather than a price list. Sources checked 14 October 2026.

We are a T-shirt manufacturer in Bangladesh, and we do not publish prices, because a price without a specification is not a price. What we can do is show the public numbers that buyers, journalists and customs authorities all use, explain what they include, and set out what moves a real order away from them. For the cost structure of a single garment, read how much it costs to manufacture clothing first; this page is the market-wide view.

What does the import data say a cotton T-shirt costs?

Three official sources record both the value and the number of pieces imported, which is all you need to calculate an average value per piece: the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), which publishes Census Bureau import data; Eurostat's Comext database for the 27 EU member states; and HMRC's overseas trade statistics for the UK. The table divides one by the other for cotton knit T-shirts, the commodity code 6109.10.

The volumes behind these averages are enormous. In 2025 the EU recorded about 1.91 billion cotton T-shirts from Bangladesh, the UK about 271 million and the US about 271 million on the four lines above. An average across that many pieces is dominated by the largest programmes, which is the first reason it is lower than anything a new brand will be quoted.

What exactly is in each number?

The three sources do not measure the same thing, and the difference matters more than the currency.

• United States. OTEXA publishes Census Bureau general import statistics, quantities in dozens for these lines. The Census Bureau defines customs value as the price actually paid or payable for the goods, excluding US import duties, freight, insurance and other charges incurred in bringing them to the United States. That makes it the closest of the three to a factory FOB price.
• European Union. Eurostat values imports on a CIF basis: the amount that would be invoiced at the EU border, so the sea or air freight and insurance from Bangladesh are inside the figure. For imports from outside the EU the partner is the country of origin, and the statistical value is based on the value determined for customs purposes.
• United Kingdom. HMRC also values imports CIF, covering the goods, freight, insurance and related costs to the point of entry, and excluding UK duty and tax. Consignments worth £873 or less are grouped under a single code and not analysed by commodity, so parcel-sized shipments are missing from the per-code totals.

Two practical consequences follow. First, compare countries within one market, never across markets: the US figure is lower than the EU figure partly because it leaves the freight out. Second, none of the three includes the importing country's duty or VAT, which is why landed cost is a separate step later in this guide.

Why do the three markets disagree about China?

In the EU and UK data, Chinese cotton T-shirts average roughly twice the Bangladesh figure. In the US data they average slightly less. Nothing in the statistics says why, and we will not guess at buyers' contracts. What the data does show is that the mix is different in each market. US imports of these four lines from China fell from about 161 million pieces in 2024 to 104 million in 2025, so the shirts still coming in are a narrower and different set. Averages describe whatever happened to be shipped, not what a given factory would charge you.

Vietnam is the steadier comparison: it averages well above Bangladesh in all three markets, at US$3.04 against US$1.60 in the US and €4.41 against €1.83 in the EU. Our Bangladesh vs China vs Vietnam guide covers the non-price reasons to choose between them.

Weight explains more of the gap than the country does

Eurostat and HMRC record net mass as well as pieces, so you can work out how heavy the average imported shirt is. It changes how the price comparison reads.

The average Bangladesh T-shirt arriving in Europe weighs about 154 grams. Our fabric consumption guide works through a medium adult tee in 180 GSM jersey and finds about 240 grams of cloth in the finished garment. So the trade average describes a lighter shirt than most brands design: the code covers children's sizes and singlets as well as adult tees. Vietnam's EU average weighs 266 grams, which accounts for part of its higher price per piece. Per kilo, Bangladesh is still the lowest of the three in both markets.

Because fabric is bought by the kilo and is usually 50–65% of a knit garment's price, weight is the single biggest reason your quote will differ from the trade average. A heavyweight tee is a different product commercially, not just a different hand-feel.

What does a hoodie or sweatshirt from Bangladesh cost?

The same method works for cotton sweatshirts and hoodies, with one caveat: the US data has dedicated sweatshirt lines, while the EU and UK codes group sweatshirts with jumpers, pullovers and cardigans of cotton.

A fleece hoodie carries far more cloth than a tee, roughly two to three times as much by our consumption guide, plus a hood, a pouch pocket and often a drawcord. That is why the averages sit at roughly two and a half to three and a half times the T-shirt figures, and why the GSM you choose for a custom hoodie moves its price more than almost any other decision.

Are prices going up or down?

Down, slightly, on the T-shirt line in all three markets. The EU average for a Bangladesh cotton tee was €2.00 in 2023, €1.89 in 2024 and €1.83 in 2025, and €1.73 across January to July 2026. In the US it was US$1.62 in 2024, US$1.60 in 2025 and US$1.46 from January to August 2026. The UK figure held steady at £1.65 in 2024, £1.68 in 2025 and £1.66 from January to July 2026.

Treat the 2026 figures as provisional. Monthly data is revised, and HMRC says its published figures can change for up to 18 months. We also found one obvious recording error in the 2026 monthly EU data, an origin and code where the implied value was five cents a garment, which is why every table here uses complete calendar years.

Why will a small brand pay more than the average?

The trade average is the price of the typical shipped garment. A new brand's first order is rarely typical, and each of the differences below pushes the unit price up rather than down.

• Run length. Our minimum is 150 pieces per style and per colour. Pattern making, grading, sampling, machine set-up and line changeover cost much the same at 150 as at 1,000 pieces, so each garment in a short run carries a larger share. Unit prices step down around 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 pieces before flattening.
• Fabric weight. Moving a tee from 160 to 200 GSM adds about a quarter to its largest cost line. The average imported Bangladesh tee is light; a 220 or 240 GSM boxy tee is not.
• Fibre and certification. Whether the cloth is organic cotton under our GOTS certification (RSC 9687) changes the fabric line, and fabric is the biggest line in the garment.
• Decoration. In our illustrative cost breakdown, printing or embroidery is 0–15% of a unit price, moving with method, colour count and number of placements.
• Trims and labels. Woven labels, hang tags, drawcords and packaging are usually 5–10%, and a branded presentation sits at the top of that range.
• Colours. Each extra colour is its own dye lot and its own 150-piece minimum, so three colours of one style are three runs, not one.
• Sampling. About 10 days and a one-off cost before bulk, spread across a short run rather than a programme of hundreds of thousands.

None of this means the average is useless. It is a floor and a sense check. If a quote for a heavyweight, organic, printed tee at 150 pieces lands below the average for all cotton tees, ask what has been left out. Our low MOQ vs high MOQ guide explains why paying more per piece on a short run is often the cheaper decision overall, and the pricing calculator shows what a given unit cost does to your retail margin.

What does duty add in each market?

Customs value is where duty starts. Using the average Bangladesh tee from the first table and the rates in our duty guide, this is what each border adds.

The US row is where the origin matters most. The same arithmetic for the average Vietnamese tee, at US$3.04 and the 29% that applies to goods of Vietnam (16.5% MFN plus 12.5% Section 301), gives about US$3.92 before freight. China pays the same 12.5% on top of its earlier China-specific Section 301 duties, so its total is higher again. In the UK, the EU, Canada and Australia, Bangladesh origin removes the duty line altogether, which is why landed cost, not unit price, is the number to compare. The landed cost calculator runs this for your own quantity and price, market by market.

How should you use these numbers?

• As a floor, not a target. The average reflects large, light, simple programmes. Your price will sit above it by an amount you can explain line by line.
• Within one market. Compare Bangladesh with Vietnam inside the EU table, not the EU figure with the US figure.
• On the same Incoterm. The US figure is close to FOB; the EU and UK figures are close to CIF; a DDP quote also includes duty, clearance and delivery. Our guide to reading a garment quote shows how to line them up.
• With the weight beside it. Ask any supplier for the GSM and the garment weight. A price without them cannot be checked against anything.

How we built these tables

Every figure was pulled on 14 October 2026 directly from the official databases listed in the references, not from secondary reports. For the US we selected the T-shirt and sweatshirt statistical lines in OTEXA's annual import data by HTS code and divided dollars by dozens, then by twelve. For the EU we queried Eurostat's Comext dataset DS-045409 for extra-EU imports into the EU-27 by country of origin, and for the UK we queried HMRC's overseas trade statistics API for non-EU imports; in both, value was divided by the supplementary quantity in pieces. We used calendar years, kept each market in its own currency and applied no exchange rates. US all-white T-shirts and underwear lines are excluded because the US tariff schedule classes them as underwear (textile category 352); the EU and UK code 6109 10 00 includes singlets and vests, which is one reason its average garment is lighter.

Want the number for your own garment rather than the average? Send us the specification — fabric, weight, quantity per colour and any decoration — and we will come back with an indicative cost. As a clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh quoting DDP, we can put duty and freight inside that figure rather than leaving them for your border.