Apparel is where HS classification gets expensive. Duty rates on clothing into the United States run from low single digits to over 30 percent, the code hinges on details a product listing rarely mentions, and the volume is relentless: a mid-size fashion brand can add more new SKUs in a quarter than an industrial importer files in a year. This guide covers how Chapters 61 and 62 actually work, and the three questions that decide nearly every garment classification.
The two chapters, and the split that rules them all
Almost all garments live in two chapters: Chapter 61 for knitted or crocheted apparel, Chapter 62 for woven. Same t-shirt shape, same fiber, different fabric construction, different chapter, different rate. Knit fabric is made of interlocking loops and stretches; woven fabric is made of threads crossing at right angles and does not. A knitted cotton t-shirt files under 6109.10; if the "t-shirt" is actually cut from woven fabric, it leaves heading 61.09 entirely and lands with woven shirts in Chapter 62.
This is the single most consequential fact in apparel classification, and it is decided on the factory floor, not in the marketing copy.
The three questions that classify a garment
- Knit or woven? Chapter 61 or 62, as above.
- What fiber, by weight? Within a heading, subheadings split on the chief fiber: cotton, wool, man-made, silk, other. The garment classifies by the fiber that predominates by weight, so a 60/40 cotton-polyester tee is "of cotton" and a 40/60 one is "of man-made fibres", often at a very different rate. Blends hovering near 50/50 deserve a lab report, because a few percentage points of fiber content can move double-digit duty.
- Cut for whom, and what garment is it? Headings distinguish men's or boys' from women's or girls' garments, and the schedule has specific homes for shirts, trousers, dresses, suits, underwear, babywear and more. Unisex garments classify as women's by rule. What the garment "is" follows its objective characteristics: a hooded fleece pullover is not a t-shirt, whatever the product listing calls it.
Worked contrasts
| Garment | Code area | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Knitted cotton t-shirt, men's | 6109.10 | Knit, Chapter 61; heading 61.09 for t-shirts; cotton subheading. US rate 16.5%. |
| Knitted polyester t-shirt, men's | 6109.90 | Same garment, man-made fiber: the rate roughly doubles, to 32%. |
| Cotton fleece hoodie | 6110.20 | A pullover, not a t-shirt: heading 61.10 covers sweaters, pullovers and sweatshirts. |
| Men's woven cotton shirt | 6205.20 | Woven moves it to Chapter 62; heading 62.05 is men's shirts. |
| Women's woven polyester blouse | 6206.40 | Woven, women's, man-made fiber. |
Notice how little the product name did in that table, and how much the construction and fiber did.
The traps that cost apparel importers real money
- Classifying from the listing, not the garment. "T-shirt" in the catalog does not make it a 61.09 t-shirt. Ribbed cuffs and a fleece back can make it a sweatshirt in 61.10; woven fabric makes it a shirt in Chapter 62.
- Trusting the label over the lab. Fiber content by weight decides the subheading. If a blend is near a boundary, verify it; a supplier's rounded label is not a defense in an audit.
- Ignoring trims and linings rules. Special provisions and chapter notes handle garments with mixed constructions and certain trims; edge cases deserve a note-by-note read or a professional opinion.
- Copying last season's code. A small spec change, a new blend, a knit panel added to a woven jacket, can flip the classification while the SKU name stays the same.
Classify the routine, escalate the weird
A sensible apparel workflow classifies routine garments quickly and consistently, and routes the genuinely ambiguous ones, near-boundary blends, hybrid constructions, festival-costume-or-apparel questions, to a broker or a binding ruling. The Tariffwise classifier is built for the routine 95 percent: describe the garment with its construction and fiber ("men's knitted t-shirt, 100 percent cotton, 180 gsm"), and it returns the code, the duty estimate for your lane, a written rationale, and the runner-up codes with the factor that would flip them, which for apparel is usually exactly the knit-woven or fiber question you need to double-check. For the money side of a wrong garment code, the worked example in how to calculate import duty uses this exact t-shirt case. If you want the rates themselves laid out by garment type, with the verified duty for t-shirts, shirts, trousers, dresses and outerwear side by side, see the reference tables on our HS code for clothing page.