Updated 8/2026
Three checks apply to nearly every textile shipment from Pakistan into the US, and all three belong before the goods leave the factory, not after: fiber-content labeling under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, country-of-origin marking under US Customs rules, and correct HS code classification for the specific product type. Duty rates vary by fiber content and construction, not by "textiles" as a single category. Get one wrong and customs delays the shipment; get it badly wrong and the shipment is refused entry.
Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (TFPIA), enforced by the FTC, most textile products imported for sale in the US must carry a label disclosing the generic names and percentages by weight of each fiber present, the name of the manufacturer or importer, and the country of origin (16 CFR Part 303, Rules and Regulations Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act). Requirements vary by product type and aren't uniform across every category: fibers present at less than 5% of the product get their own disclosure rule (303.3), and trimmings on household textile articles carry a narrower rule than the main garment (303.12). The label has to be attached before the goods clear customs into commerce, not added after import. A supplier who tells you labeling is "handled on your end" still needs to produce accurate fiber-content data at the production stage. You can't label correctly what the factory hasn't told you.
Our rule, and it should be yours: get the fiber-content breakdown in writing from the supplier before production starts, not after the goods ship. Fiber blends that change between sample and bulk production, common in cost-driven substitutions, invalidate the label you already printed.
Separately from fiber-content labeling, US Customs and Border Protection requires most imported goods, textiles included, to be marked with their country of origin "in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit" (19 CFR § 134.11, Country of Origin Marking Requirements). For goods manufactured in Pakistan, that means "Made in Pakistan" or an equivalent phrasing CBP accepts, not the country where a final finishing step happened if that step doesn't meet the substantial-transformation threshold for origin. Substantial transformation is a legal test, not a location choice. If fabric is woven in one country and only cut and sewn in another, origin determination depends on where the transformation that gives the product its essential character actually happened. A supplier who assembles from pre-made components sourced elsewhere may not confer Pakistani origin on the finished good, even if final assembly happened in a Pakistani facility.
One important correction to the general rule, and it catches importers who learned origin on non-textile goods: textiles do not run on the ordinary substantial-transformation test alone. Origin for textile and apparel products is determined by a dedicated set of rules at 19 CFR 102.21, which works through a hierarchy of tariff-shift and specific processing rules rather than a case-by-case judgment call. In practice, for most assembled garments the rule points at where the fabric was formed or where the components were knit to shape, which is why "cut and sewn in Pakistan" does not automatically mean Pakistani origin if the fabric came from elsewhere. Run your product through 102.21 rather than reasoning by analogy from a widget.
A related diligence obligation applies to cotton specifically. US forced-labor enforcement puts the documentation burden on the importer, so a shipment can be detained pending proof of where the cotton was grown and spun, not merely where the garment was assembled. Build cotton-origin documentation through the spinning stage into your supplier requirements as a standing term and keep it filed against each shipment. Requesting it after a detention is far harder than collecting it at production.
This matters beyond labeling accuracy. Origin determines which tariff schedule and which trade-program eligibility apply. Get origin wrong on paper and you either pay the wrong duty rate or, worse, get the shipment flagged for an origin audit.
Harmonized System (HS) codes for textiles are organized by fiber and construction, not by finished product category alone. The chapters that matter for most apparel and home textile imports from Pakistan:
| HS chapter | Covers |
|---|---|
| 52 | Cotton and cotton yarn/fabric |
| 54 | Man-made filaments (polyester, nylon fabric and yarn) |
| 55 | Man-made staple fibers |
| 61 | Apparel, knitted or crocheted |
| 62 | Apparel, not knitted or crocheted (woven) |
| 63 | Made-up textile articles (home textiles, towels, bedding) |
The specific 8-10 digit HTS classification, and the resulting duty rate, depends on the exact fiber content, construction (knit vs. woven), and end use of the product, not just the chapter. A cotton t-shirt (Chapter 61) and a cotton bedsheet (Chapter 63) carry different duty rates despite both being cotton textile products. Pull your exact 8-10 digit subheading from the current USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule rather than assuming a chapter-level rate applies uniformly to everything inside it; scheduled rates and any applied tariff actions change independent of the base HTS structure, and the USITC search tool reflects the current revision, not a cached snapshot. Classification errors are one of the more common causes of customs delay on first-time Pakistan shipments, because importers often classify by product name rather than running the actual fiber and construction facts through the HTS structure. Run the facts, not the label, through the structure and you skip that delay.
Duty rates and applied tariff actions on imports change on a schedule the base HS classification system doesn't track. The chapter and heading a product falls under is comparatively stable. The specific rate applied to that heading, including any country-specific or product-specific tariff action layered on top of the base rate, isn't: the average effective US tariff rate on goods from Pakistan specifically was 24.9% in 2/2026, well above the 18.4% average for 2025 and more than double the 9.9% overall US average for 1/2026 (USAFacts, average US tariff rate for Pakistan, updated 4/2026). That's the effective blended rate across all Pakistani imports, not your product's specific HTS rate; it tells you the direction and scale of the pressure, not the number to plug into a single shipment's landed cost. We treat any duty-rate figure, including the ones on this page, as dated to the day it was checked, not a permanent fact, and we'd tell you to do the same. Before committing to a landed-cost estimate for a real order, verify the current rate for your exact HTS code against USITC's HTS search tool or a licensed customs broker, not against a cached figure from a guide.
Independent of labeling and marking, a textile shipment from Pakistan typically needs a commercial invoice with accurate fiber content and value, a packing list, a bill of lading or air waybill, and a certificate of origin if you're claiming any preferential trade-program treatment. See the import execution guide for the full documentation checklist across the whole shipment process, not just the compliance-specific pieces covered here.
If you'd rather hand this sequence to a team that runs it routinely than build it from scratch, talk to us about your order.
Specific current duty rates by HTS subheading change on a schedule this page's publication date doesn't track by itself; the effective-rate figures above describe the overall Pakistan import picture, not any single product's exact duty. Confirm your product's current rate against the primary regulatory source (FTC for labeling, CBP for marking, USITC for the HTS rate) at the time you're using this page, not assumed current from our publication date alone. We don't provide customs brokerage or compliance certification ourselves; the checklist above is for you or your customs broker to verify against the current regulatory text.
Sources: 16 CFR Part 303, Rules and Regulations Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (ecfr.gov); 19 CFR § 134.11, CBP country-of-origin marking requirements (law.cornell.edu/cfr); 19 CFR Part 102.21, rules of origin for textile and apparel products; USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule (hts.usitc.gov); USAFacts effective tariff rate for Pakistan, sourced from US Census Bureau data (usafacts.org).
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