Search how to ship clothing from China and you get vendor pages quoting three to four weeks with nothing behind the number, plus the same three tips about sizing. None of them says which line a hoodie actually travels on, what has to be sewn into it before you sell it, or how long it takes when you measure it.

The short answer: clothing ships on the clothing or general goods products that parcel lines out of China run, and on a frontier line it was not slower than general goods. The real work sits with your brand: a label with the fibre content, the country of origin and your name, a care label in the US, and a size chart built from measurements rather than the supplier's letter sizes.

This guide covers:

• Which line clothing goes on, and the items in a fashion store that need a different one
• What the US asks to be on a clothing label
• What the EU asks before clothing is sold there
• How to get sizing right when the factory's sizes run small
• How long clothing takes from China, and what it weighs, measured on real parcels

Which line clothing goes on

Parcel lines out of China do not run one product for everything. They run separate products by goods class, and a parcel goes on the one its contents allow. YunExpress, a frontier line, runs a "Clothing Economy, Unrestricted" product beside its general "Economy, Unrestricted", its "Economy with Battery" and its "Cosmetics Economy, Restricted" products. Those are the names on its own waybills.

Plain garments are the easy case: t-shirts, hoodies, leggings, dresses, socks, knitwear. They hold no battery, no liquid and no magnet, so they go on a clothing or general goods product. A fashion store usually sells more than garments, though, and a few items change the line:

• Heated jackets, gloves and socks carry a battery, so they follow the battery rules in the guide to shipping products with batteries from China.
• A perfume or body mist in a gift set counts as flammable on a flight, and many lines refuse it. The guide to shipping cosmetics from China covers the beauty side.
• Magnets in bag clasps or jewellery are treated as sensitive goods by many lines.

The rule is the same every time: tell the line exactly what is in the parcel and let it pick the product. A parcel packed as clothing with a battery inside can be held or sent back, and the wait lands on your customer.

What the US asks to be on a clothing label

Clothing sold in the US falls under two FTC rules: the Textile Act rules for what the label says, and the Care Labeling Rule for how to wash it. The factory sews the label in, but the information on it is your brand's to get right.

What the label needs, in plain words:

• Fibre content. Each fibre by its generic name and its percentage by weight, largest first, such as "60% cotton, 40% polyester". Fibres under 5% are usually grouped as "other fiber". A single-fibre garment can say "All cotton" instead of "100% cotton".
• Country of origin. The country where the garment was made, such as "Made in China", on the front of the label. On a garment with a neck, the label sits at or near the inside centre of the neck.
• Who sells it. Your full company name, or your RN, a free registration number the FTC issues to US businesses that make, import or sell textiles.
• In English, with no abbreviations. Other languages can sit beside it.
• A care label that can be seen or easily found at the point of sale. It gives washing or drycleaning instructions with a temperature, drying, ironing if the garment needs it, and a bleach warning if bleach would harm it. Warnings use plain words such as "Do not" or "Only".

The care rule also asks the manufacturer or importer to have a reasonable basis for the instructions, such as a wash test. Ask the factory for the fibre breakdown in writing and wash one sample yourself before you sign off the care label. Shoes and hats are outside the Textile Act label rules.

What the EU asks before you sell there

The EU's textile labelling rules, Regulation 1007/2011, cover fibre content, and they reach further into how you sell online:

• Every fibre, by percentage, largest first. "100%", "pure" or "all" only when the garment is made of one fibre.
• Your brand is treated as the manufacturer when the garment is sold under your name or trademark, so the label is your job, not only the factory's.
• In the language of the country where it is sold. Selling to Germany and France means German and French on the label.
• Shown before purchase, online too. The fibre composition has to be clearly visible to the buyer before they pay, so it belongs on the product page as well as on the label.
• Durable, legible and securely attached. No abbreviations.

A short list of textile products is exempt, such as toys and watch straps. Garments are not on it. This is a summary, not legal advice; check with a compliance service for your exact range.

How to get sizing right

Sizing is where clothing from China goes wrong most often, and it shows up as returns, not as a delivery problem. Chinese size labels often run smaller than US and EU sizes, so a supplier's "L" can fit like a US "M".

• Measure a sample yourself: chest, waist, length and sleeve, laid flat, in centimetres and inches
• Build your size chart from those measurements, not from the supplier's chart or its letter sizes
• Relabel the sizes to your market's sizing if the factory will, so the tag matches the chart
• Put the measurements on the product page, with how to measure, next to the fibre content
• Check every colour and batch, because a new run can come out a size off

Returns from a customer to China are slow and expensive, which the guide to returns for products shipped from China covers in full. A size chart that matches the garment is the cheapest return you will ever handle, because it never happens.

How long clothing takes from China, measured

A common worry is that clothing sits in a slow lane. On a frontier line, measured on US parcels shipped from China in 2026, it did not.

On YunExpress to the US, parcels with a first carrier scan from March to mid-August 2026, the median delivery time per store on the Clothing Economy product ran 8.7 to 13.8 days, and 9 in 10 parcels arrived within 11.2 to 17.7 days depending on the store. On the general goods Economy product on the same line, the store medians ran 8.9 to 15.7 days.

So the clothing product sat inside the general product's range. If clothing orders are arriving slowly, the line they ship on is the first thing to check, not the fact that they are clothing. Per-store medians are used because one store makes up most of the clothing parcels, and a single parcel-weighted figure would describe that store, not the line.

What clothing does to the parcel

Clothing is light per item but it adds up, and parcel lines out of China price by weight.

On the same YunExpress parcels, a typical clothing parcel weighed about 0.61 kg (the median of the store medians), against about 0.26 kg for general goods. On the clothing parcels measured, the billed weight matched the scale weight, so the size of the mailer did not add to the cost. That is not true of every line and product, and the volume rules are in the guide to custom packaging for products shipped from China.

• Fold flat and bag each garment, so it arrives clean and a damp warehouse does not reach it
• Use a poly mailer for soft goods and save boxes for structured pieces
• Weigh one packed order on the line you plan to use before you set your shipping rates
• Watch multi-item orders: two hoodies can double the weight of the parcel and its cost

What to do

• Sort your range by goods class: clothing, battery (heated wear), flammable (fragrance) or sensitive (magnets)
• Get the fibre breakdown in writing from the factory before the label is printed
• Put country of origin, fibre content and your name or RN on the label for the US, and add a care label
• Show fibre content on the product page and label in the local language before you sell in the EU
• Measure a sample and build your own size chart in centimetres and inches
• Weigh a packed order before you set shipping rates
• Measure delivery on real orders, per line and per country

How we handle this at Commercive

Commercive is your all in one sourcing and fulfilment partner. We source from a product link or a photo across our vetted factories, or work with the supplier you already use, and we test products without holding you to the factory's minimum.

Your stock is received on our floor in China, and every order ships on the line that fits the product and the destination: a clothing or general goods line for garments, a battery line for heated wear, and a sensitive line when there is a magnet or a liquid in the set. Each parcel's scans sit in our dashboard. We recommend frontier lines such as YunExpress to essentially everyone; a lower-cost line might suit a low-price basic with patient customers. Our measured delivery times by line and country are on our shipping status page.

If you're currently running a brand, just give us the product and your daily order volume. We'll get you a quote within the next 24 hours to hold up against what you're paying today.

Where these numbers come from. The US label rules are from the FTC's business guidance on the Textile and Wool Acts (edited January 2025) and the Care Labeling Rule at 16 CFR 423.6, read 24 October 2026. The EU rules are from Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Articles 7, 9, 14, 15 and 16, read 24 October 2026. This is a summary, not legal advice. Line product names are the carrier's own. Delivery times and weights are our own measurement: YunExpress parcels to the US from stores we fulfil from China, first carrier scan 1 March to 14 August 2026, test stores excluded, calendar days from the first scan to the first delivered scan, measured 24 October 2026, shown as the range of per-store medians for stores with at least 30 parcels on that line product. Weights are scale weights, as the median of the store medians.

Can you ship clothing from China?

Yes. Garments ship on the clothing or general goods products that parcel lines out of China run, and they are one of the easiest goods classes to send. The exceptions in a fashion store are heated wear with a battery, fragrance in a gift set, and anything with magnets, which need a different product or may be refused. Jewelry in the same store has its own listing rules, covered in the guide to selling jewelry from China.

How long does shipping clothing from China to the US take?

On YunExpress in March to mid-August 2026, the per-store median on the Clothing Economy product ran 8.7 to 13.8 days from the first carrier scan to delivery, and 9 in 10 parcels arrived within 11.2 to 17.7 days depending on the store. That is about the same as general goods on the same line. A lowest-cost line takes longer.

What has to be on a clothing label in the US?

The fibre content by percentage, largest first; the country of origin, on the front of the label; and your company name or FTC RN number, all in English. The Care Labeling Rule adds a care label with washing or drycleaning, drying, ironing and bleach instructions where they apply.

What is an RN number and do I need one?

An RN is a registration number the FTC issues free to US businesses that make, import or sell textile products. You can put it on the label instead of your full company name. It is optional: the full business name also meets the rule.

What does the EU require on clothing labels?

Every fibre by percentage, largest first, in the language of the country where the garment is sold, on a durable label that is securely attached. The fibre composition must also be visible to the buyer before purchase, which online means on the product page. A brand selling under its own name is treated as the manufacturer.

Why do clothes from China run small?

Chinese factories often grade sizes for the Chinese market, where a given letter size is cut smaller than its US or EU equivalent. Measure a sample, publish a size chart in centimetres and inches from those measurements, and ask the factory to relabel to your sizes if it can. Shoes are sized differently again, by foot length in millimetres, covered in the guide to selling shoes from China.