Woollen Knitwear: Read the Label Before You Read the Price

Updated: 5 Oct 2026

In July 2026 a family hosiery business in Ludhiana answered a call for local makers with one line: "We do winter only like sweatshirts,cardigans etc." Another replied, "I manufacture kids knitted woolen top" (r/ludhiana, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)). That's the town India's government lists as its export town for woollen knitwear (DGFT Appendix 1B (opens in a new tab)), and it tells you how the trade thinks. Wool is seasonal, and the factories plan around winter.

For an importer, though, the hard part of a wool sweater isn't the season. It's the label. What the fibre is, how much of it there is and where it was knitted decides the HS line, the duty, the legal label and whether a trade agreement applies. So this page starts at the label and works out. For textiles as a whole, see textiles. Cotton knits are on cotton t-shirts.

SourcingFrom Intelligence

Ludhiana is the official export town for woollen knitwear, and its makers describe themselves as winter-only. (DGFT Appendix 1B · Verified. Forum logs)
The UK charges 10% on wool jumpers from outside and 0% with Indian origin proof. (UK Trade Tariff, 6110.11, read 5 Oct 2026)
Most US sweater bills from India don't name the shipper. 55% of India-origin US sea bills for sweaters and sweatshirts carry no shipper name, so shipping records are a weak way to vet a knitwear supplier. (Our count of ImportYeti pages)

What we don't know yet

How many Ludhiana units export, and where they buy wool yarn.
Whether their winter-only planning leaves room for southern-hemisphere orders. Nobody we found has said.

The Fibre Line

Start with the blend, because everything follows from it. A sweater is classified by the fibre that predominates by weight. So a jumper that's mostly wool goes under 6110.11, wool. A 30% wool, 70% acrylic jumper isn't a wool jumper at customs, it's synthetic, under 6110.30. Cotton-led blends go to 6110.20. Those lines carry different duties in many markets.

Write the blend as percentages by weight in the order, with a tolerance, and have a lab check it on the bulk. Ask what the wool is too, sheep's wool, lambswool or a speciality fibre, because both the HS line and the label name depend on it.

The Label, Market by Market

United States. Under the Wool Products Labeling Act, any wool, however little, must be named with its percentage. The label also needs the maker's, importer's or seller's name (or a US RN number) and the country of origin. On a garment with a neck, the origin goes on the inside centre of the neck (16 CFR Part 300 (opens in a new tab)).

EU. Fibre names must come from the regulation's list, with percentages, in the language of the country of sale. The importer is responsible when the maker is outside the EU. Words like "pure", "100%" and "virgin wool" have conditions attached (Regulation 1007/2011 (opens in a new tab)), so have your adviser check the wording.

UK, Australia and New Zealand. Fibre and care labelling apply too, and Australia's care-labelling standard is mandatory for clothing. Get the label artwork approved for your market before the factory prints it, because relabelling a carton of finished sweaters is slow and expensive.

The Rest of the Spec

Gauge. The number of needles per inch on the knitting machine. Fine gauge means a light, smooth knit, low gauge a chunky one. Name it, or you'll get whatever the factory's machines happen to be set to.
Weight per piece. In grams, for a stated size. It's the honest check that the yarn wasn't swapped.
Yarn count and ply. Ask your supplier to state them.
Pilling. Ask for a pilling test result. Short-fibre and blended yarns pill fast, and that's the return reason buyers dread.
Shrinkage and care. Hand-wash, machine-wash or dry-clean. A "machine washable" wool needs treated yarn, so ask.
Trims and fastenings. Buttons and zips on children's cardigans fall under small-parts and cord rules.
Order size. A Ludhiana local put it bluntly to someone asking about a tiny run: "50-100 pcs isn't an export order bro it's not even an order" (r/ludhiana, June 2025 (opens in a new tab)). One voice, but plan for it.

Put all of it into our RFQ template.

Origin and Duty

If you want 0% under a trade agreement, the knitting isn't always enough. Knitwear origin rules often look at the yarn as well, and Indian makers sometimes use imported wool yarn. That's normal, and it can change whether your sweater qualifies. Ask where the yarn was spun and check the rule for your market on origin rules for knitwear. In the UK, knitted apparel kept its developing-country preference for India while raw wool lost it, which shows how much the fibre and the stage matter.

Back to Winter

The Ludhiana makers told us their calendar. Book them early, before their own winter rush, and arrive with a label that already states the fibre, the percentages, the origin and the care. Then the price you compare is the price you'll pay. The town itself is on Ludhiana. If you want someone in Ludhiana to check yarn, weight and labels on the first run, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) does that.