Knitwear that comes off the machine finished — no panels, no side seams, no linking. Made in our own Turkish factory on Shima Seiki, with bulk production finished 2–3 weeks after an approved sample. Here's what a seamless program costs, how big it has to be, and when we'd tell you to pick something else.
Most US brands reach the phrase "seamless knitwear manufacturer" after falling for a garment — a sweater with no ridge down the side, a knit dress that hangs in one unbroken line — and wanting it under their own label. Seamless is a machine capability before it's a design choice, and few knit factories own the machines. We do: 15 Shima Seiki machines, WHOLEGARMENT among them, plus 7 Stoll CMS — 22 flat-knit machines under one roof in Gaziantep, Turkey, run by a 50-plus in-house team since 2010.
This page covers the sourcing side: program size, cost band, US delivery, compliance, and the cases where we'd steer you away from seamless. For the technology itself — how one machine knits body and sleeves together on multiple needle beds — see our WHOLEGARMENT manufacturing page.
US buyers get quoted for four genuinely different products under one word. Knowing which one you're being offered is the most useful thing on this page.
The complete garment — body, sleeves, neckline — knitted as one continuous piece on a Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT machine. Nothing cut, nothing linked. This is what we run, at fine 12gg and 14gg.
Knitted as a tube on circular machines — the technology behind most seamless activewear, base layers and underwear. A different class of machine entirely. We don't run it, and we'd rather say so than take the order.
Knit-to-shape panels joined by fine linking. There are seams, but no cut edges — and for colorwork or structured styles it's often the better garment. See fully-fashioned knitwear.
Panels cut from fabric and joined by flatlock or bonding. Marketed as seamless; structurally it's cut-and-sew — not knit-to-shape, and not something we produce in-house.
We give this read before you pay for a sample, not after. It costs us a quote occasionally; it saves you a season.
Our production floor, applied to seamless exactly as to the rest of our flat knit — every size is a separate machine program, so every size carries its own minimum.
One style in three colors across a five-size run is 3 × 5 × 250 = 3,750 pieces. That surprises brands more than the unit price does. Most US DTC labels we quote start narrower — one style, two colors, a tight size curve — then widen once they've read the sell-through.
A proto is 10–14 days at $80–180 depending on complexity, with no minimum attached. A salesman sample in production-spec yarn runs $120–250, and a size set is $60–100 per additional size — worth budgeting on a fitted seamless block, where a fit change is reprogrammed rather than let out at the seam. Nobody should commit to a four-figure seamless run off a screen render — here's how we handle sampling.
After the pre-production sample is signed off, a typical order takes 2–3 weeks with in-house QC — under 500 pieces 2–3 weeks, 500–2,000 pieces 3–4 weeks, 2,000 and above 4–6 weeks. Add 3–5 weeks of ocean transit, then 5–7 days for customs clearance and 2–5 days inland: 5–8 weeks from the approved sample to the US port and 6–9 weeks to your warehouse under 500 pieces, 7–10 weeks at 500–2,000, 8–12 weeks above 2,000.
Seamless sits in our $18–30 CMT band — above basic pullovers at $8–14 and textured or patterned knitwear at $14–22. CMT covers labor and overhead only; yarn is quoted separately, because merino, cashmere and cotton move independently on the market and we won't bury that inside one number. Couture-level or highly technical pieces are quoted individually rather than from a band.
Two forces pull a seamless quote in opposite directions: it runs slower per unit than panel knitting, which pushes CMT up, but it removes the linking step and produces almost no offcuts, which pulls real cost back out. Whether the net lands above or below a fully-fashioned version of the same style depends on the style — our knitwear pricing breakdown shows what moves a quote.
Bulk knitting finishes 2–3 weeks after an approved pre-production sample; larger runs take longer — 3–4 weeks at 500–2,000 pieces, 4–6 weeks above 2,000. Ocean to the US East Coast is 3–5 weeks port to port, quoted FOB or DDP, plus 5–7 days for customs clearance and 2–5 days inland — roughly 5–8 weeks from approval to the US port and 6–9 weeks to your warehouse under 500 pieces, 7–10 weeks at 500–2,000, 8–12 weeks above 2,000.
Air moves in days rather than weeks. The cost per kilo usually only makes sense for samples, a size set, or covering a replenishment gap on a style that's selling.
FTC fiber-content and care labeling, Made in Turkey origin, your RN number and your own brand labels — applied at the factory, not by a third party after landing.
Manufacturing documentation for your import file, plus CPSIA support on children's styles, where third-party testing goes to CPSC-accepted laboratories.
Flag a children's line at the brief stage rather than at shipment — it changes the testing and labeling path completely, and it's far cheaper to plan than to retrofit.
We won't be the cheapest seamless quote on your desk. On CMT alone a large Chinese program will usually price below us — and if unit cost is the only variable in your decision, source there.
What Turkey changes is everything around that number. Production here sits outside the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-origin apparel, with clean yarn origin for UFLPA purposes. Production runs 2–3 weeks here on a run under 500 pieces, 3–4 weeks at 500–2,000 and 4–6 weeks above 2,000, where a Chinese seamless program books 60–90 days at any size. That puts the chain from approved sample to your warehouse at 6–9 weeks under 500 pieces, 7–10 weeks at 500–2,000 and 8–12 weeks above 2,000, against 14–20 weeks on the China route at any size — the difference is won on the machine, not on the water. Our floor is 250 per color instead of four figures per colorway, and the person answering your email owns the factory. Standard US duties still apply by fiber and HTS code; confirm current rates with your customs broker, not with us.
Pure OEM and ODM: we knit under your label, to your spec, and we don't sell a competing house brand. Programming, knitting, finishing and QC are all in-house across a fleet running 3gg to 14gg, with monthly capacity of 100,000 pieces. Where a program needs a technique outside our own floor, we say so and name the partner rather than quietly brokering it — the same terms cover our OEM program and private label production.
In our case, whole-garment flat knit: body and sleeves knitted together as one continuous piece on a Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT machine, with nothing to cut and nothing to link. That's different from circular seamless activewear, which is knitted as a tube on another class of machine — we don't run circular seamless, and we say so rather than take the order.
Seamless sits in our $18–30 CMT band, above basic pullovers at $8–14 and textured knitwear at $14–22. CMT covers labor and overhead only; yarn is quoted separately because merino, cashmere and cotton move independently on the market. Highly technical or couture-level pieces are quoted individually — see the full pricing breakdown.
250 pieces per color and per size — the same floor as the rest of our flat-knit production, because every size is a separate machine program. One style in three colors across a five-size run is 3 × 5 × 250 = 3,750 pieces. Most US DTC brands start narrower: one style, two colors, a tight size curve.
A proto sample takes 10–14 days at $80–180, bulk production 2–3 weeks after the pre-production sample is approved on a run under 500 pieces — 3–4 weeks at 500–2,000 and 4–6 weeks above 2,000 — and ocean freight reaches the US East Coast in 3–5 weeks port to port, plus 5–7 days for customs clearance and 2–5 days inland. Budget roughly 5–8 weeks from approved sample to the US port and 6–9 weeks to your warehouse under 500 pieces, 7–10 weeks at 500–2,000 and 8–12 weeks above 2,000, with sampling ahead of that. Air freight moves in days when a launch date is at risk.
No, and we don't pretend otherwise — on CMT alone a large Chinese program will usually quote below us. What changes with Turkey is the rest of the picture: no Section 301 exposure, because those tariffs attach to Chinese-origin goods and not to Turkish ones, bulk production in 2–3 weeks under 500 pieces and 4–6 weeks above 2,000 where a Chinese program books 60–90 days at any size, and a 250-piece floor instead of four figures per colorway. Standard US duties still apply by fiber and HTS code; confirm current rates with your customs broker.
We produce to your spec with compliant materials, apply FTC fiber-content and care labeling, Made in Turkey origin and your RN number, and provide manufacturing documentation. For children's styles, CPSIA third-party testing is arranged with CPSC-accepted laboratories — the Children's Product Certificate itself is issued by you as the importer, because that testing has to be independent.
In-house. The Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT machines are ours, programmed and run by our own team in Gaziantep alongside 7 Stoll CMS machines — 22 flat-knit machines in total, covering 3gg to 14gg. More in our general FAQ.
Send a tech pack, a sketch or a reference garment. Within one business day you'll have a feasibility read, an indicative CMT band and a sample timeline for your US delivery date — including an honest answer if seamless isn't the right construction for the style.