When you make textiles, clothing or footwear, you cannot simply start selling them. You must first make sure each product meets the labelling and safety rules that apply to it, prove it where required, and label it. This guide is for makers of textiles, wearing apparel and leather products (SIC divisions 13, 14 and 15) placing product on the market in Great Britain.
Several separate rules can apply to the same product at once. A child's dressing gown, for example, must carry the correct fibre composition label and meet the nightwear flammability requirements. Work out which apply to your product, then satisfy each one before you place the product on the market.
Every regime in this guide is a placing-on-the-GB-market matter: it applies when you make a product available on the market in England, Scotland or Wales. Northern Ireland follows the EU product rules under the Windsor Framework, so check the NI position separately if you sell there.
Label fibre and material composition
Start here, because labelling applies to almost everything you make. Textile products must carry a fibre composition label, and footwear must carry a material composition label for its main parts. Both regimes are enforced by trading standards, and supplying mislabelled or unlabelled products is an offence.
Meet nightwear flammability safety
If you make nightwear, an additional safety regime applies on top of labelling. Children's nightwear must meet a low-flammability performance standard, with limited exceptions such as certain babywear. Adult nightwear may either meet that standard or carry the prescribed 'KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE' flammability warning. Decide early whether your garment is nightwear and which rule applies, because it changes the testing and labelling you need.
If your product is personal protective equipment
This regime applies only to a specific class of product. If a garment or item of footwear is designed and manufactured to protect the wearer against a health or safety risk — high-visibility clothing, protective gloves, safety footwear — it is personal protective equipment (PPE) and a conformity-assessment regime applies, with a declaration of conformity, technical file and the UKCA or CE marking. Ordinary fashion and workwear that is not protective does not engage it. If this is not your product, skip this section.
Meet the general product safety baseline
Whatever else applies, every consumer product you place on the GB market must be safe. Where no more specific safety regime covers your product, the general product safety requirement is the baseline that still bites. It sits underneath the labelling and nightwear rules rather than replacing them.
Steps to place your product on the GB market
Whichever rules apply to what you make, the placing-on-market sequence is the same. Work through it in order; the early steps decide how much work the later ones involve.
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1. Classify your product
Identify exactly what you make — a textile product, footwear, nightwear, or an item of protective equipment. This decides which labelling and safety rules apply.
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2. Identify every applicable rule
List the regimes that bite on your product. Most textiles and footwear engage composition labelling and the general safety baseline; nightwear adds flammability; protective items add PPE conformity. Many products engage more than one at once.
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3. Test and assess where required
Carry out any required testing — the nightwear flammability test, or the PPE conformity-assessment procedure for the relevant risk category. General textiles and footwear do not need third-party testing, but must still be safe.
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4. Compile any technical documentation
For PPE, build and keep a technical file and draw up the declaration of conformity. Keep records showing how your product meets each rule, so you can produce them for trading standards or OPSS on request.
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5. Prepare the labels
Draw up the fibre or material composition label, any nightwear flammability label, and, for PPE, the markings and instructions. Labelling must be durable, legible and readable by the consumer before purchase.
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6. Apply the labels and any markings
Attach the composition and safety labels to the product, and apply the UKCA or CE marking to PPE before you place it on the market.
What to do next
If you make upholstered or filled textile furnishings, additional furniture fire-safety rules apply on top of the regimes above, and footwear and clothing makers should confirm whether their product is also PPE. If you make or finish textiles or leather with dyes and chemical treatments, read the companion guide on restricted and protected materials, and run the sector compliance checklist before any production run. If you are an importer rather than the maker, check the manufacturer has met each rule, keep copies of the declarations and labels, and make sure the product is correctly labelled before you place it on the GB market. Before you sell in Northern Ireland, check the position there separately, as NI follows the EU product rules under the Windsor Framework.
Official sources
Statutory sources and regulators for placing textiles, clothing and footwear on the GB market