Knitwear Landed Cost: Duty, Freight & the True Cost of Importing Sweaters
Updated 9/19/202612 min readBy Simon Liu · Licheng Knitwear
FOB is not your real cost. Learn what landed cost includes for imported knitwear — freight, import duty, customs fees and inland delivery — how to estimate it before ordering, and why per-unit cost falls with volume.
The FOB price on your knitwear quote is not what your sweaters actually cost you. By the time goods reach your warehouse, you've also paid freight, insurance, import duty, customs fees and a handful of smaller charges. That all-in number is your landed cost — and it's the only figure you should use to set retail prices and margins. This guide shows what goes into landed cost for imported knitwear and how to estimate it before you commit.
Brands that price off the FOB number alone routinely under-price their product and erode margin. Always build your retail price from landed cost, not factory cost.
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Your real cost per sweater includes freight, duty and fees — not just FOB.
What "landed cost" includes
Common Questions
What does landed cost include?
Everything between the factory floor and your warehouse: unit price, freight, insurance, duty, customs clearance, port and handling charges, and inland delivery. It is the number a margin should actually be built on.
Which component surprises buyers most?
Duty, because it is the one buyers cannot estimate from experience and the one that depends on a classification decision made by someone else. It is also the component that most often turns a workable margin into a thin one.
How does order quantity change landed cost per piece?
Freight and fixed clearance charges spread across more units, so per-piece landed cost falls faster than per-piece FOB does as quantity rises. That is why a marginal order can look viable at FOB and not at landed cost.
What are the most common landed-cost mistakes?
Planning margin from FOB, estimating duty from a similar-sounding product, forgetting destination handling charges, and ignoring the cost of a delayed clearance. All four are avoidable with a broker conversation before the PO.
How can a buyer estimate landed cost before committing?
Take the FOB quote, get your classification and duty rate from a broker, get a freight quotation for the actual carton cube, and add clearance and delivery. That estimate is usually close enough to make a go or no-go decision on.
Garment cost, loaded onto the vessel at export port
Freight
Sea or air shipping to your destination port
Insurance
Cargo insurance (small but worth having)
Import duty / tariff
Charged on customs value; rate depends on product + country
Customs / brokerage fees
Clearance, handling, documentation
Inland freight
Port to your warehouse
Misc
Bank fees, demurrage if delayed, etc.
Duty is the variable that surprises people
Import duty depends on the knitwear's classification (HS code) and your destination country's tariff schedule and trade agreements. Two brands importing similar sweaters into different countries can pay very different rates. Before you commit:
Identify the likely HS code for your knit garment (your customs broker can confirm).
Check the duty rate for that code into your market — and whether any trade agreement reduces it.
Remember duty is usually charged on the customs value, not just FOB.
For a rough landed cost per unit, before placing an order:
1. Start with the FOB unit price (read it correctly first — see how to read a knitwear quotation).
2. Add freight per unit = total freight ÷ units in the shipment. (Full containers are far cheaper per unit than small LCL or air shipments.)
3. Add duty = duty rate × customs value.
4. Add fees + inland freight per unit.
5. The total is your landed cost — base your margin on this.
Freight per unit drops sharply as order quantity fills a container.
How quantity changes landed cost
Freight and fixed import costs are spread across the units in a shipment, so landed cost per unit falls as volume rises. A tiny first order carries high per-unit freight; a container-scale order spreads it thin. This is part of why MOQs exist and why reorders get cheaper per piece — see the custom sweater MOQ guide and knitwear reorders and scaling. Sanity-check your assumptions against the 2026 sourcing benchmark report.
Common landed-cost mistakes
Pricing retail off FOB and discovering the margin isn't there
Forgetting duty entirely until the customs bill arrives
Choosing air freight under deadline pressure (fast, but expensive per unit)
Ignoring per-unit freight on small first orders
Not budgeting a buffer for fees and delays
Plan your costs with a clear quote
Licheng Knitwear quotes a transparent FOB with the gauge, yarn, weight and Incoterm stated, so you can build an accurate landed cost on top of it. Tell us your product, target quantity and destination market and request a quote — or browse product directions to start from a style. Knowing your true landed cost up front is the difference between a healthy margin and a surprise.
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Talk to our team about this
If you're planning a real project around any of the points above, we'd be glad to take a quick look. Send a short brief and we'll come back within one business day with a practical direction, MOQ + lead time estimate, and a sample plan if it makes sense.
FOB unit price + freight + insurance + import duty + customs/broker fees + inland delivery. Budget all of these, not just the FOB price.
It varies by country, fibre and HS code (e.g. US and EU knitwear duties differ by material). Check your HS classification; we provide accurate fibre composition for it.
Consolidate orders for FCL, optimise packaging/volume, confirm the correct HS code, and use duty-free routes where eligible.
We focus on men's sweaters, cardigans, knit jackets, jacquard knitwear and private label knitwear. We support B2B buyers with OEM/ODM development, sampling and bulk production planning.
Ready sample styles and selected custom programs can support lower-risk trials before larger seasonal orders.
Yes. Brands, including new labels preparing a first collection, can pay for a sample and see it before placing a production order. Two routes: a ready sample of a published style at USD 60 per piece in about 7 days, or a development sample from your tech pack at USD 150 per style, covering yarn sourcing, knit programming, one prototype and one revision round, in 15-25 days. Cashmere and mohair styles are quoted individually and shipping is charged at cost. Production starts only after you approve the physical sample, at our minimum of 30 pieces per colour with sizes mixed inside the 30. A sample does not commit you to a production run; we do not make garments for personal use.
