Shipping swimwear from Australia to the US, UK and EU: ship from the factory instead
Most Australian swimwear and apparel brands pay AUD 15–50 to send an international order out of Melbourne or Sydney. If the product is made in China, the same 0.25 kg parcel can ship from a China warehouse for about USD 7.80 to the US or GBP 3.50 to the UK. How it works, what duties change, and how to split a production run.
What do Australian brands pay today?
Reading the shipping pages of Australian swimwear brands in October 2026, international orders typically leave Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane at USD 15–30 to the United States, GBP 15–20 to the United Kingdom, AUD 35 to Canada and AUD 25–50 to the rest of the world, with transit of 5–14 business days by express or 10–28 business days by economy post. The stock made that trip once already, from the factory in China to the Australian warehouse.
What does the same parcel cost from China?
China-direct apparel economy reference prices for a 0.25 kg parcel (a bikini set or a one-piece in a mailer), fuel included, at the 7 October 2026 rates: United States USD 7.77, 6–12 working days. United Kingdom GBP 3.50, 4–6 working days. Germany and other EU countries EUR 5.23, 5–8 working days. Canada CAD 9.04, 7–9 working days.
At 0.5 kg: US USD 12.11, UK GBP 4.97, Germany EUR 6.99, Canada CAD 13.19. At 1 kg: US USD 19.58, UK GBP 7.80, Germany EUR 10.52, Canada CAD 21.06. Apparel is billed on actual weight on every China-direct lane, so a light garment in a large mailer is not charged for the air.
How does the setup work?
Keep part of each production run in the ShopRest warehouse in Shanghai instead of shipping all of it to Australia. International orders from your Shopify store route to Shanghai and ship from there; Australian orders keep shipping from your Australian stock exactly as they do now. The split can be by SKU, by destination country or by both, and it can be changed without touching the store.
What changes on duties and tax?
Shipping from China does not create a new duty problem for goods that are already Chinese-made, because customs duty follows the origin of the goods, not the country the parcel leaves from. What changes is who collects it and when. United States: the de minimis exemption for parcels is gone, so every parcel is assessed; most brands already charge US duties at checkout and keep doing so. United Kingdom: VAT on parcels up to £135 is collected at the point of sale by the seller, and the duty-free band for low-value parcels is scheduled to close by October 2028. European Union: a per-parcel duty on low-value imports applies from 1 July 2026. The articles linked below set out each rule; a customs broker should confirm the treatment for your products.
What about returns?
A China-direct parcel is not returned to China. Brands that sell steadily into the US or the UK usually hold a small return stock in a local warehouse (ShopRest has warehouses in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany) and send exchanges from there. Brands with occasional international orders refund and let the customer keep or donate the item, which is what many Australian brands do already for overseas returns.
When does this make sense?
When international orders are a meaningful share of sales, when your product is light (most swimwear and apparel is under 0.5 kg packed), and when your factory can deliver part of the run to Shanghai. It makes less sense for a brand whose international orders are rare, or whose product is heavy enough that sea freight into a local warehouse is the better route.
How do I start?
Send the packed weight and dimensions of your best-selling style and roughly how many international orders you ship a month. ShopRest returns a side-by-side comparison of your current cost per order against the China-direct price, with warehouse handling shown separately, and a suggested split of the next production run. The first order can be a trial on one SKU.