Saudi Arabia sets two hard gates for garment labels: the text must be in Arabic, and import clearance runs through SASO's SABER conformity platform. Fibre content, care instructions, origin and the responsible party are all mandatory, and the labels must be sewn and attached before arrival — re-labelling after landing is not accepted, and a market surveillance finding can stop a whole shipment.

This guide works through the three layers of rules, the seven mandatory label items, Arabic wording and layout, care symbols, how hang tags, woven labels and care labels share the work, and a pre-sampling checklist.

1. Three Layers of Rules: Technical Regulation, SABER and Market Surveillance

Saudi standards are led by SASO, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization. Textiles fall under the Technical Regulation for Textile Products, which draws on Gulf (GCC) standards and the ISO care-symbol system. In practice three things stack up, and missing any one stalls the shipment.

  • Label content: fibre content, care instructions, origin and the responsible party in Arabic, split between the permanent label and the hang tag
  • Conformity: through SABER you obtain the Product Certificate of Conformity (PCoC) and the Shipment Certificate (SCoC) — no SCoC, no clearance
  • Market surveillance: after entry, authorities sample the market; a bad label can mean fines, delisting or return of the goods
Key point: the importer applies for SABER certificates on the platform; your job as exporter is to have labels, test reports and product data ready. The earlier the label is frozen, the less likely a customs hold.

2. Seven Items a Saudi Label Cannot Do Without

Item What is required Common practice
Product name The product type in Arabic, e.g. men's shirt or children's hoodie First line of the care label or the tag face
Fibre content Fibre names and percentages from highest to lowest, written in Arabic Middle of the care label, optionally alongside English
Care instructions Washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional care, as symbols plus Arabic wording Reverse of the care label
Country of origin Manufacturing country, in Arabic as sana'a fi plus the country name Keep care label and hang tag identical
Responsible party Name and address of the manufacturer or the Saudi importer, usually supplied by the importer Last line of the care label
Size Size marking must match the hang tag and outer packaging Neck label or care label
Warnings and special notes Arabic notes where required, e.g. children's wear or functional fabrics Extra care-label line or tag reverse

3. How and Where to Place the Arabic Text

Arabic runs right to left, so layout logic differs from Chinese and English. Label space is tight, and the usual failures are clipped text, broken letter joins and reversed numbers. Settle these four points at the sampling stage.

  • Type size: keep Arabic at roughly 1.5 mm minimum cap height on a care label; when space is tight, shrink the symbol area, not the text
  • Numerals: use the familiar 0–9 digits and the percent sign consistently, and avoid Eastern Arabic numerals that invite misreading
  • Bidirectional text: when Arabic and English share a label, keep each in its own block rather than switching mid-line, or brackets and punctuation flip direction
  • Ligatures and line breaks: Arabic letters join, so a bad break can change the word; proof line by line rather than forcing tracking in design software
Practical tip: typeset the Arabic inside the real care-label width first, confirm legibility at the smallest size, then decide whether to lengthen the label, print both sides, or split into a neck label plus care label.

4. Care Symbols and Arabic Wording Must Agree

Saudi practice expects both the graphic symbols and Arabic wording. The symbols follow the five-group ISO 3758 structure in a fixed order: washing, bleaching, drying, ironing, professional care. Do not reorder them.

  • Washing: the washtub plus a temperature figure, distinguishing machine, hand and do-not-wash
  • Bleaching: the triangle, with chlorine and non-chlorine drawn correctly rather than described in words
  • Drying: circles or lines inside a square denote tumble drying and line drying, with dots for heat level
  • Ironing: the iron with dots for the temperature ceiling, fewer dots meaning lower heat
  • Professional care: the circle with a letter for the dry-cleaning solvent, P and F are not interchangeable
The most common failure is not a wrong symbol but a contradiction: a 30 °C cold-wash symbol next to Arabic text saying warm wash. That kind of misleading marking is what market surveillance flags first.

5. Splitting the Work: Hang Tags, Woven Labels, Care Labels, Bags

  • Woven neck label: brand name and size, optionally a short Arabic brand line; Saudi buyers often want the size in locally familiar markings
  • Care label: carries every mandatory item — composition, care, origin, responsible party — and must be permanently sewn on, as it is the focus of inspections
  • Hang tag: price, barcode, promotion and brand story; if composition or care appears on it, it must match the care label exactly
  • Packaging bag: Arabic branding and size may be printed, but packaging never replaces the permanent label — care instructions in particular

6. Six-Point Checklist Before Sampling

  • Has the Arabic been proofed by a native speaker, especially fibre names and care wording
  • Do the fibre percentages total 100 %, and has the tolerance wording been confirmed in writing
  • Do the care symbols match the Arabic wording item by item, with no contradictions
  • Does the origin wording match the customer's customs documents, so aduana and label tell one story
  • Has the importer confirmed the responsible party's name and address in writing rather than leaving you to guess
  • Can the label width hold all the Arabic, and is it still legible at the smallest size
Saudi technical regulations and SABER procedures are updated from time to time; this article reflects export practice. Before production, confirm against the current regulation and the importer's SABER requirements.

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