Turkish knitwear manufacturing works well for DTC brands — but the lead time is long and the planning discipline required is real. This guide sets honest expectations before you place your first order.
Shopify and direct-to-consumer brands are well-suited to Turkish knitwear sourcing. The 250-piece MOQ is low enough for meaningful product testing, the quality photographs well, and flat-knit sweaters at the $120–280 retail range carry enough margin to absorb international production costs. But several things will surprise you on your first order if you haven't done international knitwear sourcing before — and the biggest one is lead time.
After you send a tech pack or reference sample, a Turkish factory produces a development sample. This typically takes 3–5 weeks including production and shipping to your US address. Budget for one revision cycle, which adds another 3–4 weeks. Don't count on getting a final approval sample in under 6–8 weeks from first inquiry.
Once you approve the final sample and issue a purchase order with deposit, production typically takes 4–6 weeks for a standard style at 250–500 units. Complex stitch structures or specialty yarns can push this to 8 weeks. Get a written production schedule with your PO confirmation.
Mersin to US East Coast ports (New York, Savannah) runs approximately 14–18 days by ocean. Add 5–7 days for customs clearance and inland delivery to your door. Total from goods leaving Turkey: 3–4 weeks.
From confirmed PO to goods at your US warehouse: 12–16 weeks. If you include development: 18–24 weeks from first contact. For a fall/winter launch, your development needs to start in Q1 at the latest, and your PO needs to be placed before the end of Q2.
Many successful DTC knitwear brands use a pre-order model that fits naturally with Turkish production timelines: build an email list or social audience before production begins, run a pre-order campaign with your approved sample photography, collect pre-orders and payment, then place production with confirmed demand in hand.
This model works because it aligns customer payment timing with production payment requirements (factories typically require a 30–50% deposit at PO) and eliminates the risk of overbuying inventory. The honest disclosure to pre-order customers is that delivery takes 14–18 weeks — many DTC consumers in the knitwear segment accept this if the product and brand story are compelling. Be explicit about the timeline in your pre-order communications; do not promise a delivery date you cannot hit.
The risk of pre-order: if pre-order volume is much higher or lower than expected, you either can't fill orders or you've under-utilized your production slot. Experienced DTC brands set a pre-order window with a minimum threshold (cancel if under X orders) and a maximum (close after X orders, waitlist the rest). This protects you from both failure modes.
A sensible first order for a Shopify brand launching knitwear from Turkey: 1 style, 2 colors, 250 units per color, total 500 pieces. This satisfies the 250-piece MOQ per style, gives you two color options to test performance, and keeps initial investment manageable. Use the sales data from this order to inform your second — which you should be planning before the first order even arrives.
Budget for photography of the factory sample before production (to build your pre-order or launch page), a contingency of 5–10% on production costs for any mid-production adjustments, and freight + duties (typically 6–20% of FOB for Turkish knitwear at standard HTS rates, depending on fiber content and construction — see our HTS codes article for specifics).
Manufacturing Service
Shopify-native brands: 250 pcs MOQ, proto in 2 weeks, full-package including labeling.
See DTC service →We work with Shopify and DTC brands from 250 units per style. We produce flat-knit and WHOLEGARMENT knitwear, provide full documentation for US customs, and can supply UFLPA-compliant cotton traceability. Send us your concept or tech pack and we'll give you a development timeline and FOB estimate.
