The clothing industry is globally connected through its vast chain of suppliers and retailers, making it possible to buy articles made in different parts of the world without leaving your neighborhood.

For that reason, importing and exporting apparel is a trade practice that’s been growing year by year. After the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign trade has been gradually recovering its numbers, and the apparel market appears to be stronger than ever.

In this article, you’ll learn how to export your apparel goods to Brazil, following the country’s legal care label requirements and avoiding fines.

What do the numbers say?

Although Brazil’s ‘producer-consumer’ profile may not be interesting for overseas producers, its importation rate shows that apparel goods made outside of Brazil are still being requested by its consumers.

In 2022, the country imported more than 2 billion dollars’ worth of made up articles (apparel and household textile items), while exportation rates were lower, since Brazil’s strongest segment is the exportation of natural fibers, especially cotton.

When compared to exportation rates from Asian countries, it becomes clear that not only Brazil but the whole global market is interested in shopping abroad: China exported more than 200 billion dollars’ worth of made up articles, becoming once again the world’s top seller in the fashion industry.

Regarding all this information, it’s important to know how to export apparel to other countries, following their specific legal requirements. Keep reading to know about the care label legislation in Brazil.

Legal requirements for care labels in Brazil

In Brazil, exporters must comply with its national legislation regarding care label mandatory information. These requirements are listed in the document ‘Portaria nº118’ of INMETRO, the Brazilian’s National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology, and among the obligatory data that each care label must contain, there are other instructions of when and how these data should be displayed, in what sizes, etc.

Read below the mandatory information that should be displayed on the care label of apparel goods sold in Brazil:

• Brand’s company name and taxpayer identification number registered in Brazil’s Federal Revenue;
• Country of origin preceded by the word “Feito no(a)”, “Fabricado no(a)” or “Indústria”. It’s forbidden to use trade blocs or flags to designate its origin;
• Name of fiber or filament and its content expressed in percentage of the full piece’s weight;
• Care instructions;
• Size or dimension if needed

Most of the information is required in every care label around the world, but in the Brazilian legislation there are a few extra things to be careful.

Fiber names

The rule for fiber names displayed on the care labels is stricter when compared to the US legislation, for example, where generic names are accepted.

To fill in this information, it’s necessary to check Appendix A of Portaria nº118 and see what the corresponding fiber or filament name of the piece is.

If your product is made from different recycled materials, you may use the term “RESÍDUOS TÊXTEIS”, meaning it’s originated from textile waste. If the product’s fiber content is complex, you may use “FIBRAS DIVERSAS” or “COMPOSIÇÃO NÃO DETERMINADA”

Care instructions

Brazil’s care label legislation follows the Ginetex standard symbols for care instructions, which are regulated by the Brazilian Association of Norms Techniques, ABNT, presented in the document ISO3758:2013.

These symbols differ from the ones used in the US, and it’s much more common for them to be used alone than accompanied by a description.

Other requirements

The care label containing all the obliged information above needs to be permanently fixed to the product, but there are no instructions about where the label should be placed.

If the exporter does not comply with the requirements prescribed, they are susceptible to suffer penalties and get fines that can value up to R$1,500,00.00, approximately over US$ 200,000.00.

Not only are the fines bad, but your company also takes the risk of losing your products or having to recall them in customs, costing money and time.

To avoid these mistakes, get in touch with us and request a free demo of our smart platform Label Pro to create automatically care labels in compliance with global labeling standards.