Labelling of clothing and textiles

Do you bring clothing or other textile articles to the Dutch market? Consumers must be able to check the composition of the product. All articles must have a label with information in Dutch if they are made up of textile fibres for 80% or more, calculated by weight. 

What information should be on the label? 

Textile labels must comply with the EU labelling requirements. For example, the label must be durable, visible, and easily legible in the language of the country where it is sold. Other requirements for labels include:

• The product’s composition must be stated on the label and must use the textile fibre names as mentioned in Annex I of the European Textile Regulation on textile fibre names.
• The proportions of the various materials used are stated on the label. If the product contains multiple parts with different materials you must include all these materials on the label.
• You may only state something is ‘100%’ or ‘pure’ if it only uses 1 type of the specified material.
• If the article contains parts of animal origin, such as leather, you must include the phrase ‘Contains non-textile parts of animal origin’ on the label.

You are not obliged to include laundry instructions in the textile products. 

Exemptions to the labelling requirements 

These requirements do not apply to custom-made clothing made by self-employed tailors or at home. If you sell textile products business to business, such as company clothing, you may substitute the label with supporting documents. 

You can find a list of all exempted products in Annex V of the EU regulation on textile fibre names and related labelling. 

Supervision of textile labels 

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit, NVWA) performs checks on your labelling. If the information is incomplete or incorrect, they can give you a warning or a fine.