Clothing and Footwear: The 20% Rule and Its Exceptions
By George · updated 2026-08-24 · checked against the 2026 Bahamas tariff schedule
Clothing is the most predictable category in the Bahamian tariff and the one where the fee structure, not the duty rate, decides what you actually pay.
One rate, almost everywhere
Adult clothing sits at 20% duty across the board:
- T-shirts, tops and knitted shirts (6109.1000)
- Trousers, jeans, shorts and menswear (6203.4200)
- Dresses, skirts and womenswear (6204.4200)
- Sweaters, hoodies and cardigans (6110.2000)
- Footwear of all kinds (6403.9900)
You do not need to look up individual garments. If it is adult apparel or shoes, assume 20% and you will almost always be right.
The exception that matters: baby clothing is free
Baby clothing and accessories (6111.2090) are duty-free. So are diapers (9619.0010). This is a deliberate carve-out and it is substantial — see the baby gear guide, where almost the whole category turns out to be 0%.
Where the real cost comes from
20% sounds mild. Run it through the actual fee structure and small clothing orders look very different:
- $40 t-shirt. $8 duty, $10 processing, $5.80 VAT. Charges $23.80 — 59.5% of the item price.
- $80 jeans. $16 duty, $10 processing, $10.60 VAT. Charges $36.60 — 45.8%.
- $120 sneakers. $24 duty, $10 processing, $15.40 VAT. Charges $49.40 — 41.2%.
The duty rate never moved. The $10 processing minimum is doing the damage, and it does proportionally more damage the cheaper the item. On the t-shirt, the fixed $10 fee is larger than the $8 of duty.
This is the category consolidation was invented for
Clothing orders are naturally many small items, which is exactly the shape that the per-entry minimum punishes. Four separate $50 clothing orders cost $108 in import charges; the same $200 of clothing in one entry costs $75. You save $33 by changing nothing except how many times the parcel crosses the border.
If you shop clothing online regularly, batching into one monthly forwarder consolidation is worth more than any sale you are likely to catch. The full argument is in consolidating orders.
A note on returns
Clothing has the highest return rate of anything bought online, and import charges are paid on what enters the country, not on what you keep. A parcel of five items where you keep two has still paid duty, processing and VAT on all five. Sizing carefully is worth more in The Bahamas than it is in the US.
Browse clothing and shoes lookups, or the full schedule for chapter 61 (knitted clothing), chapter 62 (woven clothing) and chapter 64 (footwear).