On this page
- The four numbers behind your custom jerseys shipping cost
- US import duty on custom jerseys
- The additional China duties, and why we will not add them up for you
- The $800 de minimis exemption no longer helps you
- Worked example: 100 sublimated jerseys
- What actually moves the freight number
- How long each mode takes
- How to get a real number in one email
- Frequently asked questions
- Where to go next
The custom jerseys shipping cost from China to the USA is never a single honest number, because the total you actually pay is four separate figures added together, and only two of them are stable enough to publish. This guide separates them, gives you the US duty rates that apply to team kit today, and shows you what to send us so a real freight figure comes back in one email rather than three.
The four numbers behind your custom jerseys shipping cost
When a club treasurer asks what it costs to get jerseys from China, they usually mean the landed cost: what leaves the bank account before the kit is on the field. It breaks into four parts, and confusing them is the single most common reason a quote comparison goes wrong.
| Component | Who sets it | What it is based on | Can it be published? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods value | The factory | Design, fabric, decoration method, quantity | Yes — ours start at USD 12 per sublimated jersey at 100 pieces |
| International freight | The carrier or forwarder | Chargeable weight, volume, lane, fuel and season | No — rates move weekly and any published figure would mislead you |
| Import duty | US Customs | HS classification of the garment and country of origin | Yes — published below and on our reference page |
| Clearance and last-mile fees | Broker and carrier | Entry type, bond, delivery area | Partly — varies by broker, but we can tell you which ones apply |
Two of those four are ours to state plainly. The freight line is not, which is why we quote it per order rather than publishing a per-kilo table that would be wrong within a month. Our shipping cost and import duty reference explains what sits behind each line in more detail.
US import duty on custom jerseys
Duty is charged on the goods value, not on what you paid for freight, and the rate depends entirely on how the garment is classified. Sublimated polyester team jerseys normally fall under HS 6114.30, but the same shirt can be classified as a T-shirt or as a jersey/pullover, and those carry more than double the rate. This is the number worth checking before you order, not after.
You do not have to take our word for any of the rates below. The full US tariff schedule is published and searchable at the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule, and the rules on classification, valuation and who is liable as importer of record are set out by US Customs and Border Protection. We are a manufacturer, not a customs broker, so treat the figures here as a planning baseline and confirm the final classification with your broker.
| Garment | US HTS code | Base duty rate |
|---|---|---|
| Sublimated soccer or basketball jersey (knit, man-made fibre) | 6114.30.30 | 14.9% |
| Jersey classified as a T-shirt | 6109.90.10 | 32% |
| Jersey or pullover, knit | 6110.30.30 | 32% |
| Polo shirt | 6105.20.20 | 32% |
| Knit shorts (men’s/boys’) | 6103.43.15 | 28.2% |
| Knit shorts (women’s/girls’) | 6104.63.20 | 28.2% |
| Track suit, woven | 6211.33.90 / 6211.43.10 | 16% |
| Outdoor jacket, woven | 6201.40.75 / 6202.40.75 | 27.7% (7.1% on water-resistant lines) |
| Socks | 6115.96.90 | 14.6% |
| Caps | 6505.00.15 | 7.9% |
These are base rates from the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, checked on 10 August 2026. Chinese-origin garments also carry additional duties on top, and those are where the number gets larger and less stable.
The additional China duties, and why we will not add them up for you
Team kit from China sits under Section 301 List 4A, which adds 7.5% under HTS heading 9903.88.15. Separately, goods of China and Hong Kong are subject to duties imposed under IEEPA, carried under headings 9903.01.20, 9903.01.24 and the reciprocal baseline at 9903.01.25. Whether and how these stack on a specific entry depends on the date of entry, the exact classification and the exclusions in force, and the rules have changed several times.
We publish the base rate and name the additional headings so your broker can look them up in seconds. We deliberately do not publish a single blended percentage, because a blended number goes stale faster than anything else on the page and gives you false confidence about a figure that only a licensed customs broker can confirm for your entry.
The $800 de minimis exemption no longer helps you
This is the change that catches out repeat buyers. Section 321 used to let shipments valued at USD 800 or less enter free of duty, which meant a small club order often arrived with nothing to pay. That exemption has been suspended for shipments from all countries since 29 August 2025. A ten-jersey order and a thousand-jersey order are now both dutiable, and the practical consequence is that duty needs to be in your budget from the first order, not just the first big one.
Worked example: 100 sublimated jerseys
Take a straightforward club order: 100 sublimated soccer jerseys at our 100-piece price of USD 12 each, so USD 1,200 of goods value. Here is how the custom jerseys shipping cost stacks up line by line.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Goods value | 100 × USD 12 | USD 1,200 |
| Base duty if classified 6114.30.30 | 14.9% | USD 178.80 |
| Base duty if classified 6109.90.10 | 32% | USD 384.00 |
| Section 301 List 4A | 7.5% | USD 90.00 |
| International freight | Quoted per order | Not published |
| Clearance, bond and last mile | Broker and carrier | Varies |
The gap between USD 178.80 and USD 384.00 is the entire argument for getting classification right before the goods ship. It is the same jersey; only the code on the commercial invoice differs. We state the HS code on every invoice we issue so your broker is not guessing.
What actually moves the freight number
Freight is the one part of the custom jerseys shipping cost that moves week to week, and it is almost never priced by actual weight alone. Jerseys are light and bulky, so carriers charge on whichever is greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. That single fact explains most of the surprises in a first quote.
- Chargeable weight. Volumetric weight usually wins on apparel. Tighter polybag packing and a denser carton spec genuinely reduce the bill.
- Mode. Express courier, air freight and sea LCL price on completely different logic, and the crossover point moves with order size rather than with jersey count.
- Season. Rates climb before Chinese New Year and in the pre-holiday peak. The same lane in a quiet month and a peak month are not comparable.
- Destination detail. A commercial address with a loading dock, a school with restricted hours and a residential address are three different last-mile prices.
- Incoterm. An EXW price and a DDP price are not the same product. Comparing them side by side is the most common quoting mistake we see.
Our guide to reading a freight quote breaks down each line item a forwarder will show you and flags the ones that are commonly left out of a headline number.
How long each mode takes
Speed and cost trade off directly, and for a season deadline the transit time usually decides the mode before the price does.
| Mode | Transit to the USA | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Express courier (door to door) | 5–7 business days | Small and mid-size club orders, samples, anything against a fixed match date |
| Air freight (airport to airport) | Days rather than weeks, plus clearance and last mile | Larger orders that still need to arrive inside a few weeks |
| Sea freight LCL | 20–35 days port to port, plus clearance and inland | Large or repeat orders planned a season ahead |
Add production time in front of whichever you choose. Sublimated jerseys and polos run 15–20 days in bulk after mockup or sample approval; jackets and structured activewear run 20–25 days. A club that wants kit for a September season start should be talking to us in June, not August.
How to get a real number in one email
Most quoting delays are caused by a missing detail rather than by the factory. Send these six things and a full custom jerseys shipping cost comes back with the kit price rather than a week later.
- Quantity per design and the number of designs.
- Garment type and fabric weight, or just tell us the sport and we will propose it.
- Destination city, postcode and whether the address is commercial, school or residential.
- Your deadline — the date the kit needs to be in hand, not the date you want it shipped.
- Whether you want us to quote EXW, FOB Xiamen or DDP door to door.
- Whether you already have a freight forwarder in China.
If you do not tell us which Incoterm you want, we quote EXW ex-works by default, which is the lowest headline number and the right basis if you already have a forwarder in China who can handle export clearance. Most first-time club buyers do not, and for them DDP door to door is usually the sensible request. We ship DDP to most of the 50-plus countries we serve.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to ship custom jerseys from China to the USA?
There is no fixed rate, because the custom jerseys shipping cost is freight plus duty plus fees rather than one line. Freight depends on chargeable weight, mode, lane and season, and any published per-kilo figure would be out of date within weeks. What we can state precisely is the duty side: 14.9% on sublimated jerseys under HTS 6114.30.30, or 32% if the shirt is classified as a T-shirt or pullover, plus 7.5% under Section 301. Send us quantity, destination and deadline and we quote freight with the kit price.
Do I still get the $800 duty-free allowance?
No. The Section 321 de minimis exemption has been suspended for shipments from all countries since 29 August 2025, so even a ten-piece club order is dutiable.
Is DDP more expensive than FOB?
The headline number is higher because it contains freight, clearance and duty that you would otherwise pay separately. Whether the total is higher depends on the rates your own broker can get. For a first order under a few hundred pieces, DDP is usually both simpler and competitive.
Who is responsible if US Customs holds the shipment?
Under DDP it is our responsibility and the cost is already inside the agreed price. Under FOB or EXW it is yours, including any storage that accrues while the hold is resolved. Most holds on garments come from a vague product description or a missing HS code on the invoice, which is why we put the code on every invoice.
Can you deliver to a school or residential address?
Yes, by express courier under DDP. Carriers add a residential surcharge, and sea freight is not practical to a home address because LCL consignments are released at a terminal rather than delivered to the door.
Where to go next
Selling the same kit into other markets? The comparison is stark, and each has its own guide: the UK charges a flat 12% with no China-specific duties at all, the EU the same 12% plus 17–27% VAT, Canada 18% with only 5% GST, and Australia 5%, or nothing at all under ChAFTA. On our USD 1,200 worked example the US base duty alone is USD 178.80 before Section 301 and IEEPA duties, against USD 0 into Australia with a valid declaration of origin.
For the full data set — HS codes for every teamwear item, duty and VAT rates for the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia, and a line-by-line responsibility table for EXW, FOB and DDP — see our shipping cost and import duty reference. For the garment price itself, our custom team uniform cost and MOQ guide covers per-unit pricing before freight, and our custom soccer jersey page covers fabrics, decoration and sizing. On the logistics side, DDP vs FOB for custom sportswear explains who pays for which leg, and air vs sea freight for teamwear works backwards from your season start to the mode that still fits.
The polo line is worth pausing on. At 32% under 6105.20.20 it is one of the highest rates in the table, and it applies to the cheapest garment most buyers order — so duty is a larger share of a polo’s cost than of anything else in a mixed shipment. Our custom polo shirts guide works the arithmetic through the whole price band and covers the separate 13.6% line at 6105.20.10.00 for polos containing 23% or more wool.