Insurance for garment makers from cutting table to customer.
Workers’ comp for your garment registration, product liability, inventory and equipment coverage for cut-and-sew factories, garment contractors, private label brands and print shops.
By Sam Alishahi · CA Insurance License #4348151 · Reviewed November 2026 · How this page is researched
Your registration starts with workers’ comp
In California, every business that makes garments, including contractors who sew for other companies, has to register with the Labor Commissioner. The registration is renewed every year, and it needs a current workers’ comp certificate that names your exact legal entity and every location where you do the work.
Since 2022, the Garment Worker Protection Act (SB 62) has banned piece rate pay for garment workers. It also makes the manufacturers and brands that hire a contractor responsible for that contractor’s workers being paid correctly. So the contractors you use matter as much as your own payroll.
I work with apparel businesses in the Fashion District, Vernon, Commerce and across Los Angeles. I set up workers’ comp with the right class code, then cover the fabric, the finished goods and the products once they leave your building.
- Workers’ compRequired for employees, and for your garment registration.
- Product liabilityClaims from the clothing you make or sell.
- Property and inventoryFabric, finished goods, machines and your space.
- Business incomeLost income while a fire or breakdown shuts you down.
What underwriters will ask
Having these ready means I can go to market on the first call. The quote form asks for the same things, and anything you don’t know yet can wait.
- Operations: cut and sew, contract sewing, private label, printing or embroidery.
- Registration: your garment registration number and renewal date.
- Payroll: employees and payroll by job, such as sewing, cutting, design and office.
- Contractors: who you send work to and whether they carry workers’ comp.
- Inventory: fabric and finished goods at your busiest time, plus sprinklers and alarms.
- History: current policies, experience mod and loss runs.
Keeping the garment registration in good standing
Renewing is routine. What trips up garment shops is the rest of the Labor Commissioner's rules, as its January 2026 exam study guide spells them out:
- One address per registration. A registration is valid for a single person or company at a particular address. If you're moving, tell the Labor Commissioner's Office at least two weeks before the move, and get your workers' comp certificate reissued for the new address.
- Post it. Your name, address and registration information go on your front entrance in letters at least three inches high, and on or near the building's exterior entrance if your shop is inside a larger building.
- Answer record requests within 10 days. Not giving payroll records to the Labor Commissioner's Office within 10 days of a request is grounds for revocation. So is a contractor leaving the names of the manufacturers it sewed for off its employees' itemized wage statements.
Failing the registration requirements, or not complying within 15 days with a judgment under garment workers' labor laws, carries a civil penalty of $100 per affected employee, and $200 per affected employee for later violations. The Labor Commissioner can also require a bond of up to $10,000 as a condition of keeping the registration.
A workers' comp gap brings separate penalties. The guide puts the penalty for having no coverage at the greater of twice what the coverage would have cost for the uninsured period or $1,500 per employee. You can't operate until you're insured, and you owe employees their regular pay for the first 10 days the business is closed. Keep the workers' comp policy in force through every renewal and address change.
Federal product rules that apply to every label
These are federal rules, so they follow your garments into every state.
- General wear (16 CFR 1610). Clothing textiles are tested and rated Class 1, 2 or 3. Class 3 textiles burn rapidly and intensely and can't be used in clothing. Testing to support a guaranty isn't required for plain-surface fabrics of 2.6 ounces per square yard or more, or for fabrics made entirely of acrylic, modacrylic, nylon, olefin, polyester or wool.
- Children's sleepwear (16 CFR 1615 and 1616). Part 1615 covers sizes 0 through 6X and part 1616 covers sizes 7 through 14. Infant garments and tight-fitting garments that meet the rules' definitions are excepted from sleepwear flammability testing, but they still have to meet part 1610 (and part 1611 where it applies), and the certificate still cites the rule.
- Children's Product Certificate. A product designed or intended primarily for children 12 or younger needs a written CPC from the domestic manufacturer or importer, based on tests by a CPSC-accepted third-party lab. An item exempt or excepted from testing still needs a CPC that lists the exemption. Since July 8, 2026, importers of most regulated consumer products must also file certificates electronically with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
- Drawstrings (16 CFR 1120.3). Children's upper outerwear in sizes 2T to 16 with drawstrings that don't conform to ASTM F1816-97 is deemed a substantial product hazard. Hood and neck drawstrings are prohibited through size 12; waist and bottom drawstrings have separate requirements through size 16. CPSC may treat girls' and boys' Large as size 12 and Extra-Large as size 16.
Apparel manufacturer insurance, answered
Do I need workers’ comp to get a garment manufacturer registration in California?
Yes. The Labor Commissioner asks for proof of current workers’ comp coverage for a new registration and for each renewal. The certificate has to show your full legal entity name, your DBA if you use one, and every address where you do garment work. A declarations page or an insurance application is not accepted.
Who has to register as a garment manufacturer?
Every business engaged in garment manufacturing, including contractors who sew for other companies. Garment work includes sewing, cutting, making, finishing, dyeing, altering a garment’s design and attaching labels. At least one qualified person from the business has to pass the registration exam.
What workers’ comp class code covers clothing manufacturing?
In California it is usually 2501(1), Clothing Mfg. It includes cutting, sewing, embroidery and attaching labels and trim. A company that designs its garments is placed there even if it sends the sewing to contractors. A company that only buys finished clothing to wholesale is usually 8032. I check your operations against the rating bureau’s wording before I quote.
What is the Garment Worker Protection Act?
It is California’s SB 62, in effect since January 1, 2022. Garment workers must be paid at least minimum wage by the hour, not by the piece. Manufacturers and brands that contract for garment work can be held responsible for wages owed to the contractor’s workers.
What insurance does a clothing manufacturer in Los Angeles need?
Most start with workers’ comp, general and product liability, and property coverage for fabric, machines and finished goods. Many add business income, equipment breakdown, goods in transit and employment practices liability. What fits depends on what you make and who you sell to.
What insurance does a clothing brand need if it doesn’t sew in-house?
Product liability is usually the core, since your name is on the garment. You also need coverage for inventory at your warehouse, at contractors and in transit. If you design the garments in California, you may still need workers’ comp for your own staff under the clothing class.
Is fabric and inventory covered if there is a fire?
Only if your property limit is high enough to cover it. Fabric burns fast, and inventory often peaks before a season ships. I set the limit to your busiest month, not your average, and ask about sprinklers and alarms because carriers do.
Does a brand that doesn't sew have to register as a garment manufacturer in California?
If you contract with someone to have garments sewn, cut or otherwise made for sale, you're engaged in garment manufacturing, and DIR says that means registering. That includes brand guarantors who are engaged in garment manufacturing as Labor Code 2671(c) defines it.
What happens if I use an unregistered sewing contractor?
For the period the contractor is unregistered, you're treated as the employer of its workers and are jointly liable for its wages, damages and penalties. The Labor Commissioner can also confiscate garments made by or on behalf of an unregistered manufacturer or contractor.
Do you offer apparel manufacturer insurance outside California?
Yes. Clients across the country send the same quote form. Sam Alishahi is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, DC and places policies there directly. The shopping across carriers works the same way. Rules, minimums and markets differ by state — see insurance requirements by state.
Official sources
- California Labor Commissioner: Garment Work in California (registration and SB 62 Garment Worker Protection Act)
- California Labor Commissioner: garment registration document requirements (workers’ comp certificate)
- California Labor Commissioner: apply for or renew a garment registration (annual registration and exam)
- WCIRB California: classification 2501(1), Clothing Mfg.
- DIR Labor Commissioner – Garment Manufacturer Registration Exam Study Guide (01/2026)
- DIR Labor Commissioner – Garment Worker Protection Act FAQs
- California Labor Code section 2673.1 (joint and several liability)
- California Labor Code section 2673.2 (piece rate ban)
- eCFR 16 CFR Part 1610 – Standard for the Flammability of Clothing Textiles
- CPSC – Children's Sleepwear Regulations
- CPSC – Children's Product Certificate
- eCFR 16 CFR Part 1120 – Substantial Product Hazard List (drawstrings)
- IRMI – Sistership liability exclusion
- IRMI – Additions and Extensions of Property Coverage
Tell me what you make. I’ll shop it.
Your operations, payroll by job and inventory value are enough to start.
Alishahi Insurance · Saman Alishahi, independent insurance broker, California License #4348151. General information, not a quote or a promise of coverage; coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.
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