Underwear Supplier for Buyers in Santiago de Chile: OEM from China

Chile is one of the more straightforward Latin American markets to enter and one of the less forgiving on labels. Duty is low and the free trade agreement with China is mature, but the consumer protection law is enforced with market inspections and per-unit fines. Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) is a China-based underwear supplier working through long-term BSCI-audited partner factories in the Fujian knitwear corridor — men’s, women’s and kids’ knitted underwear, MOQ 2,000 pcs per style and colour, FOB Xiamen.

Santiago’s Wholesale Base and What It Requires

Santiago’s apparel trade concentrates around the Patronato and Estación Central wholesale districts, alongside department-store private label for Falabella and Ripley, supermarket own-label programmes, and a growing online segment. Chile also functions as a distribution platform for Bolivia, Peru and parts of Argentina, so a Santiago importer often buys for two markets at once — which changes the label and documentation requirement, because the goods may need to be re-invoiced onward.

The requirement Chilean buyers ask about first is the label, because it is the one item that cannot be fixed cheaply after arrival. Consumer protection law in Chile requires a permanent label in Spanish showing the fabric composition, the care instructions and the country of origin, and the label has to be sewn into the garment rather than hung from it. The importer’s tax identification, the RUT, also appears on the label or the accompanying commercial information. Enforcement is real: SERNAC runs random market inspections and issues fines per non-compliant unit, so a single bad label on a large shipment is an expensive mistake.

Because the RUT belongs to the importing entity, the artwork depends on which of your companies is importing. Settle that before sampling rather than after, because changing a label after the goods are cut means either re-labelling in Chile at a cost per garment, or holding the shipment.

Xiamen to Santiago: Pacific Routing and the Free Trade Agreement

There is no direct flight between Xiamen and Santiago. Typical routings are one-stop through Los Angeles, Madrid or Sydney, with total airport-to-airport time of twenty-four to thirty hours, and door-to-door air freight of roughly five to eight days. Air is used for samples and for a mid-season top-up rather than for volume.

Sea freight runs across the Pacific into Valparaíso and San Antonio, the two gateways that serve Santiago, with typical transit in the region of thirty to forty days port to port depending on the routing and the number of calls. Door to door, including Chilean customs clearance and inland delivery to the Santiago metropolitan area, plan on forty to fifty days. Northern Chile shipments sometimes discharge at Iquique or Arica instead, which changes the inland leg but not the ocean time by much.

The commercial point that matters more than transit is the tariff. Chile and China have had a free trade agreement since 2006, and most apparel lines enter at zero duty against a valid certificate of origin. Without the certificate, the general rate — around six percent for apparel — applies. The certificate has to be obtained before the goods leave China and issued by an authorised body, so it belongs in the pre-shipment checklist rather than in the documents folder for the broker to sort out on arrival. Value added tax is nineteen percent on the duty-paid value and is recoverable by a registered importer.

Documents, Codes and the Two Mistakes That Delay Cargo

Two documentation problems account for most of the delay we see on Chilean shipments. The first is a label that arrives in English only, or that omits the composition for a blend. The second is a tariff classification that was set using the supplier’s commercial description rather than a fibre analysis. Chilean classification follows the harmonised system with national extensions, and closely related garments can sit at different rates, so the code should be confirmed against the actual construction and fibre content and, where the classification is genuinely ambiguous, backed by laboratory analysis.

It is worth making both checks part of the pre-shipment inspection rather than a port-side fix. Re-sewing labels in a Chinese warehouse before the container is loaded costs a fraction of re-labelling on arrival in Chile, and re-classifying before the export declaration is filed costs nothing at all compared with an inspection and a corrective entry.

What We Do, and What We Do Not Do

Unitex is a sourcing and supply-chain management company. We do not own factories. We develop styles, source fabric and trims, place orders with long-term BSCI-audited partner factories in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang corridor, and run production follow-up, AQL 2.5 inspection and export documentation. We can sew the Spanish-language label to your artwork at production, including your importer name and RUT, so the garment arrives compliant rather than needing a relabelling operation.

What we do not do is act as your Chilean importer, hold stock in Santiago, or issue the certificate of origin ourselves. The certificate is issued by an authorised Chinese body, and we arrange it as part of the export documentation. The import registration, the customs broker and any warehousing in Chile sit with your local team.

Sourcing Specifications at a Glance

Company	Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. (厦门甲冠麒贸易有限公司) — sourcing and supply-chain management company, incorporated 2013; in the underwear trade since 2009
Location	Xiamen, Fujian Province, China — Jimei District, Xinglinwan Business Operation Center
Production base	Long-term partner factories across the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear corridor; our own liaison office inside the Jinjiang factory district since 2013
Categories	Men’s / women’s / kids’ knitted underwear, plus size to 5XL, thermal and baselayers, pajamas and sleepwear, sport bras
MOQ	2,000 pcs per style and colour (trial orders from 1,000 pcs on selected styles)
Sampling	7–10 days for counter samples; 12–18 days for fully custom development
Bulk lead	45–60 days after pre-production sample approval
Compliance	BSCI-audited partner factories; OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified materials; certificate numbers for the production sites on your order shared at quotation
QC	AQL 2.5 inline and final inspection on every order; shrinkage and spirality tested before bulk cutting; third-party inspection (SGS, Intertek, TÜV) welcome
Port & terms	Xiamen Port — FOB Xiamen standard (EXW Xiamen for Russia/CIS); CIF, CNF or DDP on request
Payment	30% T/T deposit, 70% against copy of B/L; L/C at sight for larger programmes

How to Start a Programme from Santiago

1. Send your design brief, spec sheet or reference sample — we review and respond within 48 hours
2. Receive fabric swatches, waistband options and a quotation within 3–5 business days
3. Approve counter samples (7–10 days) or full custom development samples (12–18 days)
4. Pre-production sample locks the measurement chart, then bulk runs 45–60 days with AQL 2.5 inline and final inspection
5. Shipment from Xiamen Port on your chosen term, with export documentation handled by our team

Contact us for a free quotation →

Prefer a third-party reference before you write? Our company profile and product showroom are public on Made-in-China.com, and our export shipping records are independently listed on Panjiva. Contact: [email protected] · WhatsApp +86 186 5081 3853.

Other Markets We Cover

This guide is one of a series written for buyers in different markets. The others cover London · Paris · Barcelona · Rome · Frankfurt · Amsterdam · Stockholm · Athens · Moscow · St Petersburg · New York · Lima · Mexico City · Sydney · Melbourne · Italy · the Netherlands · the Nordics · Mexico · the UAE · Canada — each page sets out what that market’s import rules, duty and shipping routes mean for an underwear programme sourced from China.

If you are still weighing up whether to buy through a sourcing company at all, start with the China underwear supplier hub, which sets out how a sourcing company differs from a single factory and what that changes for your programme. Buyers already based in China — Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Yiwu or Xiamen — are covered by a separate set of city guides linked from the hub.

Disponible en español: Proveedor de ropa interior en Santiago de Chile.

Published: 2026-10-04 · Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. — OEM & ODM underwear sourcing partner

Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — OEM/ODM underwear sourcing and supply-chain partner in Xiamen, China; in the trade since 2009, incorporated in 2013. Based in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster, Fujian Province, south-east China.