California Garment License: Requirements, Bond, and Penalties

To legally manufacture garments in California, you must register your business with the Labor Commissioner before you start operating, renew that registration every year, post a surety bond covering up to four weeks of employee wages, and pass an examination on garment labor law. California garment license requirements apply whether you are a one-person contractor or a factory with fifty sewers, and they also reach the brands that hire you. Fees run from $250 to $2,500 a year depending on your role and revenue, and operating without a valid registration is a misdemeanor that can get your inventory confiscated.

The state calls this a “registration” rather than a license, but the two words are used interchangeably on government forms. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), part of the Department of Industrial Relations, runs the program under Labor Code sections 2670 through 2680.¹

Who Has to Register

Every person engaged in the business of garment manufacturing must register.² “Person” covers individuals, partnerships, corporations, LLCs, and associations, and the category applies to manufacturers, contractors, subcontractors, jobbers, and wholesalers.³

California defines garment manufacturing broadly: sewing, cutting, assembling, dyeing, finishing, repairing, altering a design, affixing a label, or otherwise preparing any clothing, accessories, or wearing apparel for sale or resale.⁴ If your business does any of those things, you need to register, regardless of your size or structure.

Two groups frequently miss that they’re covered. Employee leasing companies and temp agencies that supply workers to garment manufacturers for production tasks are themselves considered to be engaged in garment manufacturing and must hold their own contractor registration.³ Retailers that go beyond selling and get involved in designing, sourcing materials, or arranging manufacturing under their own brand are treated as manufacturers or brand guarantors.

What You Need to Apply

Registration begins with DLSE Form 810, the Application for Registration Garment Manufacturing Industry. The same form is used for new applications and renewals.⁵ You will need to supply:

Ownership information for each owner, partner, or corporate officer, including names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and home addresses.⁶
Your main business address and every location where employees will perform garment work.
Your State Employment Tax ID (SEIN) from the EDD and your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), or proof you’ve applied.⁷
Proof of workers’ compensation insurance, which is mandatory for any business with employees.⁸
Your most recent EDD quarterly report (DE-9 or DE-9C) showing your employee count.⁷

The Surety Bond

You must post a surety bond from a California-licensed surety company. There is no fixed dollar amount. The bond has to cover up to four calendar weeks of wages and benefits for all employees, based on your highest headcount during any pay period in the preceding twelve months.⁹ A five-person shop paying minimum wage needs a much smaller bond than a fifty-person factory. The bond exists to pay workers if the business fails to pay wages.

The Exam and Inspection

Applicants have to demonstrate knowledge of garment labor laws and regulations through an oral or written examination, or both.¹⁰ The DLSE may also inspect your premises before granting registration to confirm your working conditions and payroll practices comply with the law. Processing typically takes several weeks.

What It Costs

Fees are annual and depend on whether you register as a contractor or a manufacturer, and on your gross sales.¹¹

Contractors:

$250 for gross sales of $100,000 or less
$350 for gross sales from $100,001 to $500,000
$500 for gross sales from $500,001 to $1,000,000
$1,000 for gross sales over $1,000,000

Manufacturers:

$750 for gross sales of $500,000 or less
$1,000 for gross sales from $500,001 to $3,000,000
$1,500 for gross sales from $3,000,001 to $7,000,000
$2,500 for gross sales over $7,000,000

If your registration has been denied, revoked, or suspended at any point in the three years before you apply, you pay a penalty tier. Contractors with any gross sales during that period pay $1,000, and manufacturers with any gross sales pay $2,500.¹¹

Renewing Every Year

Registration lasts one year. The DLSE emails a notification 90 days before your certificate expires, and the agency recommends submitting your renewal as early as possible inside that window.² Renewal requires updated proof of workers’ compensation, an active surety bond, your most recent EDD quarterly report, and proof you are current on taxes with the Franchise Tax Board and EDD. Discrepancies in payroll records or tax filings can hold up renewal until you resolve them, and the DLSE may inspect during the renewal review.

Letting your registration lapse is a problem. If a contractor’s garments are confiscated for operating without registration, the statute specifically excludes delayed renewal from one of the protections available in confiscation cases.¹² Other penalties still apply.

Penalties for Operating Without Registration

Running an unregistered garment business is a misdemeanor.¹³ The one exception is for an unregistered person with no employees, who faces a civil penalty instead of criminal charges.

Civil penalties are $100 per affected employee for a first violation and $200 per affected employee for subsequent violations. For an unregistered person with no employees, the flat civil penalty is $500.¹⁴

The DLSE can also seize any clothing or apparel assembled by or on behalf of an unregistered person, and confiscated goods are destroyed or disposed of rather than returned to commerce.¹⁵ If a contractor has had garments confiscated within the preceding five years, the Labor Commissioner can seize all manufacturing equipment and the property where the unregistered operations happened.¹²

Keeping Your Registration in Good Standing

Registered employers must keep records for at least four years. Required records include employee names and addresses, daily hours worked (with start and end times), daily production sheets with piece rates, wage rates for each pay period, contract worksheets showing price per unit, and all contracts, invoices, purchase orders, and style sheets with the contracting parties’ business information.¹⁶ You also have to keep a copy of the garment registration certificate for every registered contractor or manufacturer you work with. The DLSE reviews these during inspections, and gaps draw deeper scrutiny.

Wage and hour violations escalate quickly. After any violation, the Labor Commissioner can require you to post an additional bond of up to $10,000 as a condition of keeping your registration. After a second violation within any two-year period, that additional bond becomes mandatory. A third violation within any two-year period can lead to revocation for 30 days to one year. If the violations involve minimum wage, child labor, or maximum hours of labor, the Labor Commissioner can also confiscate garments being assembled.¹⁷

Note that piece-rate pay is illegal in California garment work. Every garment worker must earn at least the state minimum wage, which is $16.90 per hour as of 2026, plus proper overtime.¹⁸

If You Hire a Garment Contractor

Registration is not only an issue for the shop doing the sewing. Anyone who contracts for garment manufacturing — including a brand that licenses its name for garment production — is a “brand guarantor” under California law.¹⁹

Contractors, manufacturers, and brand guarantors are jointly and severally liable for the full amount of unpaid wages (minimum, regular, overtime, and other premium pay), expense reimbursements, attorney’s fees, and civil penalties for failing to carry workers’ compensation insurance.¹⁹ If a contractor fails to pay its workers, the brand that hired the contractor can be held liable for every dollar owed.

A separate rule applies if you hire a shop that is not registered or doesn’t have a valid bond. You are treated as that contractor’s employer and become jointly liable for every resulting violation.¹⁶ Verifying that a contractor’s registration is active before signing a production agreement is not optional.

Brand guarantors have their own four-year recordkeeping obligations: contract worksheets, all invoices and purchase orders, and copies of registration certificates for every garment manufacturer or contractor they hire.⁴

One Thing California Registration Does Not Cover

Registering with the DLSE handles your California labor obligations, but it does not satisfy federal labeling law. Under the FTC’s Textile Fiber Rule, every garment sold in the United States must carry a label disclosing fiber content by generic name and percentage of weight, the manufacturer or marketer name, and the country where it was processed or manufactured.²⁰ U.S.-based businesses can apply for a free Registered Identification Number (RN) from the FTC to use in place of a company name on labels; the application is online-only and typically approved within three business days.²¹

1
Labor Commissioner’s Office. Garment Work in California
2
Department of Industrial Relations. Apply for a New or Renew Garment Registration Certificate
3
Department of Industrial Relations. Important Information and Instructions for New and Renewal Applicants for Registration Garment Manufacturers and Contractors
4
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2671
5
Department of Industrial Relations. Application for Registration – Garment Manufacturing Industry
6
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 8 13634 – Requirements for Registration
7
Department of Industrial Relations. Garment Registration Document Requirements
8
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 3700
9
Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 13641 – Bonds for Continued Registration
10
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 2675
11
Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 13635 – Registration and Examination Fees
12
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2680
13
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2676
14
Justia. California Code Labor Code 2678
15
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 2680
16
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2677
17
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2679
18
Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage
19
Department of Industrial Relations. Garment Worker Protection Act Frequently Asked Questions
20
Federal Trade Commission. Textile Fiber Rule
21
Federal Trade Commission. Registered Identification Number Frequently Asked Questions