Clothing is one of the most heavily classified categories in ocean freight and international trade, and one of the most misdeclared. Duty rates on apparel run far above the average for manufactured goods, so the difference between two adjacent codes is real money on every shipment. This is how the classification is built and where importers lose.
Every code starts with the six-digit Harmonized System number, which is the same in every country that uses the HS. The United States extends it to ten digits in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The first six digits determine what the product is. The last four determine the US duty rate and the statistical reporting.
For apparel the first decision is not the garment, it is the construction.
| Chapter | Covers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 61 | Articles of apparel, knitted or crocheted | T-shirts, jerseys, knitted dresses |
| 62 | Articles of apparel, not knitted or crocheted | Woven shirts, suits, trousers |
| 63 | Other made-up textile articles, including worn clothing | Bed linen, worn clothing under 6309 |
A cotton t-shirt is knitted, so it lives in chapter 61. A cotton dress shirt is woven, so it lives in chapter 62. Same fibre, same wearer, different chapter, different rate.
Heading 6309 covers worn clothing and other worn articles, and it has conditions. The goods must show signs of appreciable wear, be presented in bulk or in bales, sacks or similar packings, and not be sorted to the point of being individually packed for retail. Get those conditions wrong and the shipment is reclassified as new apparel at a much higher rate, which turns a viable container into a loss. We ship this cargo regularly and keep a reference on used clothing shipping.
The classification travels further than the customs entry. It appears on the ISF, it feeds the AMS manifest, and it decides whether your goods hit textile agreements, quotas, or additional tariff actions. It also decides whether preferential treatment under a trade agreement is available, which for apparel usually depends on yarn-forward rules that look at where the yarn was spun and the fabric formed, not just where the garment was sewn.
Read the chapter notes before the heading text. They exclude more than importers expect. Use the General Rules of Interpretation in order: GRI 1 for terms of the headings, then the rest only when the first does not settle it. When a classification carries real exposure, request a binding ruling from CBP rather than relying on a supplier's number. Supplier codes are written for export in the country of origin and often stop at six digits, which is not enough to file a US entry.
Duty is calculated on the customs value of the goods, so the code and the value work together. Our worked example in how to calculate US import duty shows the arithmetic end to end.
There is no single code. Knitted apparel classifies in chapter 61, woven apparel in chapter 62, and worn clothing in heading 6309. The specific code depends on the garment, the fibre and the wearer.
Heading 6109 covers t-shirts, singlets and other vests, knitted or crocheted. The subheading then splits by fibre, with 610910 for cotton.
The first six digits are common to all HS countries. National extensions differ: the United States uses ten digits, and many other markets use eight or ten of their own.
The importer of record. A broker or forwarder can advise, but the legal responsibility for a correct entry sits with the importer.
CBP can reclassify, collect the difference in duty with interest, and assess penalties where the error looks like negligence. Repeat errors raise the audit risk on every future entry.
Shipping apparel or textiles into or out of the United States? Send us the details and we will quote the lane with the classification questions answered up front.