September 22, 2026

A heated apparel shipment is two shipments in one: garments, and lithium batteries. The batteries carry the regulatory weight, and the single most common documentation mistake is using the wrong UN number for how they are packed.

Most factory audits are built for garments. Heated apparel adds a battery, a control board and a heating circuit — three components that fail in ways a sewing-floor inspection will never catch. Here is what to look at instead.