White Label Knitwear · Start From a Proven Block · For US Brands

White Label Knitwear Manufacturer for US Brands

Launch a knit line without paying to invent the shape. Start from a construction we have already developed and proven, choose the yarn, color and trims, apply your own woven label — knitted in our Turkish factory and shipped to the US.

In most industries "white label" means a finished product sitting in a warehouse that you rebrand and resell. In knitwear that idea only half survives contact with a factory floor. We hold no finished stock — no bagged sweaters waiting for a sticker. What we do hold, after knitting other people's brands since 2010, is a library of developed house blocks: constructions whose machine programs, fit and finishing are already proven. A raglan crew. A shawl-collar cardigan. A fine-gauge turtleneck. A WHOLEGARMENT seamless base layer.

White label here means starting from one of those instead of paying to develop a shape from zero. You skip pattern development and the fit-correction rounds that come with it, and spend the money on what your customer can actually see: yarn, color, trims, finishing. It is still OEM production — knitted to order, under your label — with a much shorter starting line.

White Label or Private Label — Which Are You Buying?

Same machines, same factory, same brand on the label. The difference is who owns the shape and who paid to create it.

 White labelPrivate label
Starting pointA block we have developed and knitted beforeYour tech pack, sketch or reference garment
DevelopmentProgram exists; usually one sample roundNew program written and graded; often two or three rounds
ExclusivityBase shape shared; your yarn, color, trims and artwork are yoursConstruction developed for you and stays yours
Typical buyerFirst collection, capsule test, corporate or hospitality runSecond season onward, or a brand with a signature fit
Minimum orderIdentical — 250 pieces per color, per size

If the right-hand column is what you need, read the private label page — or the plain-English breakdown of OEM vs ODM vs private label. Doing both at once is common: a white label style carries the season while your own block is developed alongside it.

What You Choose, What Stays Fixed

Yours to decide

  • Yarn and fiber — merino, cashmere blends, cotton, alpaca, recycled
  • Gauge within the block's range, across our 3-14gg capability
  • Color, including dye-to-match once volume clears mill minimums
  • Trims: buttons, zippers, ribs, cuff and hem finishing
  • Woven brand label, FTC fiber-content and care label, hangtags, packaging
  • Modest shape edits — body length, sleeve length, neck depth

Fixed by the block

  • The core construction and panel layout
  • The graded fit logic behind the size run
  • The stitch architecture the program was written around

Push past these and the program has to be rewritten — which is private label development, not white label. We tell you which side of that line your request falls on before you spend anything.

A First US Collection, Start to Shelf

1

Send references, not a tech pack

Most brands arriving here have no patternmaker and no tech pack — just a mood board, a competitor's sweater and a launch date already chosen. Send that. Within one business day you get the closest blocks, yarn options and an indicative CMT band from our published pricing ranges: roughly $8-14 for a basic fully-fashioned crew, $14-22 with cable or jacquard texture, $18-30 for seamless WHOLEGARMENT.

2

One sample, 10-14 days

$80-180 per sample including shipping to the US. Because the block already fits, the first sample usually needs a yarn or color correction rather than a pattern correction — that is where white label buys back most of its time.

3

Do the MOQ math honestly

250 pieces per color and per size, because every size is a separate machine program. One style, one color, a five-size XS-XL run is 5 x 250 = 1,250 pieces. First-collection brands usually shrink that by narrowing the curve to S/M/L (750 pieces), not by dropping colors. Same math in more detail on our small batch page.

4

Bulk in 2-6 weeks, then ship

Production runs 2-3 weeks after sample approval on a run under 500 pieces, with in-house QC against the approved piece — longer as the order grows, 3-4 weeks at 500-2,000 pieces and 4-6 weeks above 2,000. Labels and packaging go on at the factory, so goods land retail-ready — then 3-5 weeks by ocean to the US East Coast plus 5-7 days for customs clearance and 2-5 days of inland trucking, FOB or DDP, with air freight available when a launch date slips.

5

Reorder without resampling

A repeat run re-enters bulk directly: sample approved, program on file, yarn spec known. Selling out early is only a good problem if the reorder went in before it happened.

The Honest Comparison With China

If the only number on your spreadsheet is unit price, a Chinese white label supplier with ready stock programs will usually beat us — often on smaller quantities too. We are not going to pretend otherwise. What Turkey changes is the rest of the spreadsheet: Turkish origin sits outside the Section 301 tariffs applied to Chinese apparel, bulk production runs in 2-6 weeks depending on run size rather than months, fiber origin is UFLPA-clean, and there is no agency layer between you and the floor. Confirm your HTS classification and duty rate with your customs broker; we supply the origin and fiber documentation your entry needs. Full side-by-side on the Turkey vs China page. For most US brands the real argument is inventory risk rather than cost per sweater — a shorter lead time lets you commit to fall quantities later, with more data and less guessing.

What White Label Does Not Change

01

The minimum

250 pieces per color, per size — including WHOLEGARMENT. A shared block does not make a machine set-up cheaper.

02

The sample step

Nothing goes to bulk unapproved. You sign off a physical sample in your yarn and color before we knit a production piece.

03

What we make

Knitwear only — sweaters, cardigans, vests, knit tops and dresses. No wovens. An extended knit range runs through our partner network, named openly when it applies.

04

Who owns your brand

You do. We knit under your label and never run a competing brand of our own. NDAs are signed as a matter of course.

The factory behind it: 22 flat-knit machines — 15 Shima Seiki including WHOLEGARMENT and 7 Stoll CMS — a 50-plus in-house team and roughly 100,000 pieces of monthly capacity. Detail on the capabilities page; the order sequence on how we work.

Season Two: Growing Into Your Own Block

White label is a starting position, not a permanent one. The usual arc: season one launches on two house blocks, sell-through comes back, and by season two you know which silhouette your customer actually buys. That is the moment to develop your own block — a neckline nobody else has, a signature rib, a fit graded to your customer instead of a generic curve. The sampling investment finally makes sense, because you are no longer guessing what to invest in. Same factory, same contact, same machines: you simply move onto private label development. Many brands keep one white label carry-over in the line for good — a proven crew neck that reorders cleanly is not a problem worth redesigning.

White Label Knitwear FAQ — US Brands

What is the difference between white label and private label knitwear?

White label starts from a knit shape we have already developed — the block, the machine program and the fit exist — and you make it yours through yarn, gauge, color, trims and your woven label. Private label develops the shape itself from your tech pack, and it belongs to your brand. White label is faster and cheaper to develop; private label gives you a garment nobody else can order.

Do you have a catalog of finished sweaters I can put my label on?

No, and we would rather say so plainly. We hold no finished stock and nothing ships off a shelf. What we hold is a library of developed blocks with their machine programs on file. Every white label order is still knitted for you, in your yarn and your colors, after a sample approval.

Does white label lower your minimum order quantity?

No. The minimum stays 250 pieces per color and per size, because every size is knitted from its own machine program regardless of who designed the block. One style in one color across a five-size run is 5 x 250 = 1,250 pieces. Keep a first order small by narrowing the size curve, not by cutting colors.

Is the block exclusive to my brand?

The base shape is not exclusive — that is the trade-off for not paying to develop it. Everything you add is yours: yarn and color, stitch or panel modifications, trims, labels, packaging and artwork. If the construction itself has to be exclusive, that is private label development and we quote it that way.

How long does a white label program take to reach a US warehouse?

First sample in 10-14 days at $80-180, bulk production in 2-3 weeks under 500 pieces after you approve it — 3-4 weeks at 500-2,000 and 4-6 weeks above 2,000 — then 3-5 weeks by ocean to the US East Coast plus 5-7 days for customs clearance and 2-5 days of inland trucking. Working back from a launch date, a first white label drop needs about two to three months of runway.

Is white label knitwear from Turkey cheaper than China?

Usually not on unit price alone. A Chinese white label supplier with stock programs can quote lower and often accepts smaller runs. Turkey wins on the other lines of the spreadsheet: origin outside the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese apparel, bulk production in 2-6 weeks depending on run size rather than months, UFLPA-clean fiber origin, and a factory owner you speak to directly. Confirm your HTS classification with your customs broker.

More answers on the general FAQ page, or see finished pieces in our work.

Start from a block that already works

Send a reference image, a mood board or a link to the sweater you wish you could sell. We reply within one business day with the closest blocks, yarn options, an indicative price band and an honest read on whether the quantities fit your plan.

White Label Starting Guides

Terminology

OEM vs ODM vs Private Label, Explained

Which model you are actually buying, and what each costs in time and control.

Read guide →

Launch

How to Start a Knitwear Brand

Concept to first drop — budget, sampling and the first real production run.

Read guide →

Tariffs

Section 301 and What It Does to Sweater Costs

How the China tariff lines change a landed cost, and where Turkish origin sits.

Read guide →

MOQ

What a 250-Piece Minimum Really Means

Styles, colors, sizes — and what your first order actually totals.

Read guide →
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