Importing custom sportswear from Pakistan

Ordering team kit directly from a factory in Pakistan is less complicated than it looks, but the paperwork uses trade language that nobody explains to first-time buyers. This guide translates it: what EXW, FOB, DAP and DDP actually mean, who pays duty and when, why suppliers ask for a deposit, how sampling protects you, and what to check before you place your first order.

Why Sialkot

Sialkot, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has manufactured sports goods for export for generations. Footballs, gloves and teamwear made in the city’s workshops are sold around the world, and the trade is organised enough to have its own chamber of commerce, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI).

Adaki Sports is one of those workshops: an owner-led factory founded in 2017 by Nida Amjad, with a team of 25 to 30 people and registered SCCI membership. It holds no third-party compliance certifications at present, and says so plainly; if your organisation’s onboarding requires a specific audit, raise it before ordering rather than after. The factory ships to 50+ countries and accepts orders from 10 sets per design, which is what makes it practical for a single club side or a school programme, not just wholesalers. You can see the full range on the products page.

Incoterms in plain English

An Incoterm is a standard three-letter code on your quote that defines exactly where the seller’s job ends and yours begins. It decides who books the freight, who insures the goods in transit, and who deals with customs. Adaki quotes EXW Sialkot by default, with FOB, DAP and DDP available on request.

Term	What the seller does	What you arrange	Best suited to
EXW (Ex Works)	Makes the goods available at the factory in Sialkot	Everything from the factory door: collection, export, freight, import clearance, duty, delivery	Buyers with a freight forwarder, or anyone comparing quotes on a like-for-like basis
FOB (Free On Board)	Delivers the goods cleared for export and loaded at the port or airport of departure	Main freight, insurance, import clearance, duty, final delivery	Sea-freight buyers who want their own forwarder to control the main leg
DAP (Delivered At Place)	Transports the goods to your named address	Import duty, VAT/GST and customs clearance at your end	Buyers who want one shipping price but can handle their own import taxes
DDP (Delivered Duty Paid)	Everything, including your country’s import duty and taxes	Nothing beyond receiving the boxes	First-time buyers who want a single all-in figure with no surprises

The practical takeaway: an EXW price looks cheapest because it includes the least. When you compare a Sialkot quote against a domestic supplier, compare landed cost, not the headline figure. Landed cost is the EXW price plus freight, plus insurance, plus import duty and tax, plus any clearance fees.

Who pays duty, and when

Unless your quote explicitly says DDP, import duty, VAT or GST, and customs clearance in your country are your responsibility. This is the single most common surprise for first-time importers, so it is worth being blunt about how it works in practice.

With express carriers such as DHL and FedEx, the carrier usually clears customs on your behalf and invoices you for duty and tax, often before the final delivery. With sea freight, your forwarder or customs broker handles clearance and duty is paid before the goods are released. Either way, the money goes to your government, not to the factory, and the factory cannot pay it for you unless you have agreed DDP terms up front.

To make clearance smooth, Adaki supplies a commercial invoice and packing list with correct HS codes on every shipment. Keep both documents; your customs authority may ask for them, and you will want them for your own accounts.

What an HS code is

The Harmonized System (HS) is the international classification scheme customs authorities use to identify what is in a shipment. Every product type has a numeric code; the first six digits are standard worldwide, and countries add further digits for their own tariff schedules. Sublimated polyester jerseys, tracksuits and sports bags each fall under different codes, and the code determines the duty rate you pay.

You do not need to memorise any of this. What you should do is check the declared codes on your commercial invoice against your own country’s tariff lookup (most customs authorities publish a free online search) so you can estimate duty before the goods ship, rather than discovering it at delivery.

Express or sea freight

Adaki ships worldwide by DHL or FedEx express and by sea freight, tracked in both cases. The trade-off is simple:

	Express courier	Sea freight
Speed	Days	Weeks
Cost per kilogram	Higher	Lower, and falls sharply with volume
Customs handling	Carrier usually clears and bills you	You or your broker clears
Tracking	Door-to-door	Port-to-port, then local leg
Makes sense for	Small orders, tight deadlines, first orders	Large bulk orders where the saving outweighs the wait

For a typical first order of 10 to 50 sets, express is almost always the right call: the freight saving from sea rarely justifies weeks of extra transit and the extra clearance work on a shipment that small. Sea freight starts to earn its keep on large recurring bulk programmes. Full details, including what happens if something goes wrong in transit, are on the shipping and returns page.

The deposit and balance pattern

The standard payment structure is 50% deposit to start production and 50% before shipment. First-time buyers sometimes read this as a risk; it is actually the norm across custom manufacturing, and the reason is structural. A custom kit printed with your club’s crest, colours and player names cannot be resold to anyone else. The deposit covers fabric and production for goods that have no other buyer; the balance before shipment protects the factory from non-payment on finished stock it cannot recover.

You have protections on your side of the arrangement too. Pay the deposit only after you have approved the digital mockup, so there is no ambiguity about what is being made. Before releasing the balance, ask for photographs of the finished order; a reputable factory expects the request. And note that quotes are valid for 30 days, so you have time to get sign-off from a committee or a treasurer without the price moving underneath you.

Indicative per-set prices, EXW Sialkot, before freight and duty:

Product	10–49 sets	50–249 sets	250+ sets
Soccer / basketball uniforms	$17–20	$15–17	$13–15
American football uniforms	$25–30	$22–25	$20–22
Baseball uniforms	$22–28	$19–23	$17–20
Team tracksuits	$25–30	$22–26	$19–22

Your written quote confirms the exact figure once fabric, decoration and quantity are known. Start with the quote request form if you want numbers for your own spec, or see the custom soccer uniforms page for a worked example of one product line.

Sample before you commit

The order sequence is designed so that money and risk move in small steps:

1. Free digital mockup. Send your logo, colours and references; a full mockup arrives within 24 hours, with unlimited revisions and no obligation. Vector artwork (AI, EPS, PDF or SVG) is best; high-resolution PNG also works.
2. Physical sample, 7–10 business days. Samples are chargeable and you pay the sample shipping, but the cost may be credited against a confirmed bulk order. For a first order, a sample is worth every cent: it is the only way to judge fabric, print quality and fit before committing to the full run. A size-set sample covering multiple sizes can be produced on request.
3. Bulk production, 10–15 business days from mockup approval, then shipping.

If you are switching from another supplier, you can send a garment from your current kit to be pattern-matched, which avoids re-sizing your whole squad. The size guide explains how measurements are specified, and the process page walks through the full sequence step by step.

Tolerance, defects and reorders

Two terms in the fine print matter more than the rest. First, measurement tolerance: finished garments are made to a tolerance of ±1 inch (±2.5 cm) against the size chart. That is a normal manufacturing allowance for cut-and-sew apparel, and it is why approving the size chart, or ordering a size-set sample, matters more than any other pre-order step.

Second, the defect window: report any fault or off-spec item within 7 days of delivery, with photographs. Verified problems are resolved by remake, replacement or credit. Because every garment is printed and cut to your artwork and sizing, custom orders cannot be returned for change of mind, which is standard across the industry and another reason the sampling step exists.

There is a long-term upside to the custom process too: your artwork and patterns are kept on file, so reorders skip the setup stage and go straight into production.

Pre-order checklist

Run through this before paying a deposit on any custom sportswear order from Pakistan, or anywhere else:

1. Confirm the Incoterm on the quote and understand what it excludes. If it says EXW or FOB, get a freight quote before comparing prices.
2. Estimate duty and tax using the HS codes and your country’s tariff lookup, so the landed cost is known in advance.
3. Approve the digital mockup in writing, including exact colours, sponsor logos, names and numbers.
4. Approve the size chart against real measurements from your squad, remembering the ±1 inch tolerance. Order a size-set sample if sizing is critical.
5. Order and inspect a physical sample before bulk. Ask whether the sample cost will be credited against the order.
6. Get the payment terms, quote validity and production timeline in writing on the quote.
7. Ask for photographs of finished goods before releasing the balance.
8. On delivery, inspect everything within 7 days and photograph any problems immediately.
9. Keep the commercial invoice and packing list for customs and your accounts.

More detail on most of these points, including compliance questions, is answered on the FAQ page.