US brands moved cut-and-sew from Asia to Central America and cut transit from 30 days to 3–7, but the labelling work often stayed behind. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic label in Spanish, while the garments sell back into the United States, so one care label has to clear two rule sets at once. This article covers where the two overlap, how enforcement differs across the six countries, how trims count under CAFTA-DR, and the three items most often missing from the layout.

1. One Label, Two Rule Sets

The production side owes Spanish consumer information: fibre content, care instructions, origin, and the name and address of the importer or responsible party. The selling side then adds US requirements: fibre content under FTC textile rules, care instructions under 16 CFR 423, a country-of-origin mark, and the RN number where applicable. Neither end accepts a label that carries only a brand and a size, and the most common mistake in the region is printing a US template with the language swapped to Spanish.

2. Six Fixed Elements, One Missing Means a Reprint

  • Spanish information must be clearly legible; English may sit alongside it, but not replace it
  • Fibre content in descending weight order, with fibres under 5% groupable as other fibres
  • Care instructions: ISO 3758 symbols save the most space, or spell them out in Spanish
  • Origin: Hecho en plus the country, matching the declared origin on customs documents
  • Legal name and address of the importer or responsible party, with abbreviations often expanded
  • Size and style number: US size plus centimetres, which speeds up retail warehouse checks

3. How the Six Countries Differ in Practice

Central America shares a regional technical regulation on textile labelling as a common floor, but enforcement sits with each national consumer authority and the bar is not identical. The table below collects the practical sticking points; the current legal text and the local importer remain the reference.

Country Enforcing body What to watch
Guatemala Ministry of Economy and DIACO Importer address must be complete, abbreviations are often expanded
Honduras Secretariat of Economic Development Customs checks invoice descriptions against label wording
El Salvador Consumer protection authority Size best marked in US and centimetres together
Nicaragua MIFIC Small import lots are still checked for Spanish labels
Costa Rica MEIC Label description must line up with the customs description
Dominican Republic Pro Consumidor and INDOCAL Free-zone exports and local sales fall under different requirements

4. Do Chinese Hang Tags Affect CAFTA-DR Duty-Free Status?

Preferential duty looks at the garment's own origin rule: most apparel is yarn-forward, meaning yarn, fabric, cut and sew all happen inside the region. Labels, hang tags, buttons and retail packaging are normally treated as accessories and packing materials, so they do not drive the origin determination — buying woven labels, care labels and hang tags from China generally does not affect eligibility.

What does cause trouble is inconsistency: the entry says Honduras while the label reads Made in China, or the other way round, or the origin field is left blank for the retailer's compliance team to guess. There is only one answer to origin, and the customs entry, care label and hang tag must all carry the same one.

5. Layout: Spanish Runs About a Fifth Longer

The same sentence in Spanish typically runs 15–25% longer, and the gap widens with longer care text. At a fixed care-label width there are only two routes: smaller type or another fold. Below about 1.2mm character height, screen printing loses the Spanish accents and the ñ first — and accents are exactly what a buyer looks at to judge whether a label was made properly.

Woven labels need extra density for Spanish: the acute accents and the tilde on ñ need an extra weft column, so 40 picks and above weave them reliably, while at 30 picks the accent often attaches to the next letter. Hang tags are not limited that way, but the Spanish version usually needs one more line of height.

6. Six Things to Confirm Before Sampling

  • Which countries the garment finally sells in; with more than one, build to the strictest
  • Language mix: Spanish only, Spanish plus English, or Spanish plus an indigenous language
  • Take composition from the test report, not from estimates made at sampling stage
  • Align the origin wording with the customs declaration before fixing label copy
  • Whether responsible-party details go on the care label or the tag reverse drives label length
  • Keep three physical sets from the first run: factory, brand compliance, retail warehouse

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