When one factory quotes you CMT and another quotes you full package, the two numbers are not comparable - and the gap between them is not profit. It is responsibility. Which model you choose decides who buys the fabric, who carries the material risk, and who gets the phone call when a shipment is late. So the honest question before comparing prices is: which jobs do you actually want to hold?
CMT means you buy everything except the sewing.
Cut, Make, Trim: the factory supplies the labour and the machine time, and you supply fabric, trims, labels and packaging - or buy them through the factory as your agent. The unit price is the lowest, and your control over materials is the highest. The trade is that every material decision, every fabric shipment and every customs line for materials becomes yours. CMT suits buyers who already know their fabrics, have a sourcing channel, and order in volumes that make material purchasing efficient.
Full package means the factory owns the supply chain.
The factory sources fabric and trims to your specification, manages its own suppliers, and delivers finished garments. The unit price is higher, because it includes the factory's buying margin and the risk it now carries. What you get back is time and a single responsible party: one contract, one invoice, one number to call. For a first order with a new factory, or any order where you cannot inspect fabric lots in person, full package is usually the correct answer even though it is never the cheapest on paper.
FOB is a delivery term, not a production model.
This is the comparison most buyers get wrong. FOB (free on board) only says where responsibility transfers - at the origin port, goods on the vessel. It says nothing about who bought the fabric. You can run FOB on top of CMT or on top of full package. When a quote says FOB, ask the real question underneath: who supplied the materials? That answer, not the three letters, tells you what the price contains.
The comparison in one table.
Same garment, same specification - the two models divide the same total cost differently.
| CMT | Full package |
|---|
| Unit price | Lowest | Higher (materials + margin) |
| Fabric sourcing | Buyer | Factory |
| Material risk | Buyer | Factory |
| Control over fabric | Maximum | By specification |
| Buyer workload | High | Low |
| Fits | Experienced buyers, larger volumes | First orders, lean teams |
Which one to pick, in one paragraph.
First or second order with a factory: full package, quoted FOB, with fabric specifications written into the contract. Repeat orders in a category you know, at volumes that fill a container, with a fabric source you trust: CMT starts to earn its complexity. The mistake is choosing CMT because the quote is lower, then discovering the real cost sitting in freight, fabric variance and your own evenings. Price is not the model. Responsibility is the model. For what the earliest stage of any order genuinely costs, see the sample cost breakdown.
FAQ.
Can I switch from full package to CMT with the same factory?
Yes, and it is a common path: run full package for the first season, learn which materials matter most to you, then move those to your own sourcing while the factory keeps the rest. Switch everything at once only if your volumes justify the extra workload.
Is CMT always cheaper in the end?
No. Below certain volumes, your fabric purchase gets worse prices than the factory's, your freight gets worse rates, and your own management time is real money. CMT wins at scale; below it, the cheap model quietly becomes the expensive one.
