Summary: in CMT the factory cuts, makes and trims fabric you supply; in full package (FPP/OEM) the factory sources fabric, produces and delivers a finished, labelled garment. The difference is who carries fabric risk, working capital and coordination overhead — and for most brands under a certain size, full package is quietly cheaper.
The three letters, decoded
- CMT — Cut, Make, Trim. You buy and ship fabric and trims; the factory converts them into garments. You pay a making price per piece.
- FPP — Full Package Production. The factory sources fabric and trims to your spec, produces, finishes, labels and packs. You pay one landed price per garment.
- OEM — in apparel, effectively FPP: the factory manufactures your design under your brand.
What CMT really demands of you
CMT looks cheaper per piece because the making charge excludes fabric. But you now run a second supply chain: negotiating with mills, meeting their minimums, paying for fabric months before selling a garment, insuring and shipping rolls, and owning every metre that arrives off-shade or over-shrunk. If fabric arrives late, the factory's line slot moves — and that cost is yours too.
What full package buys
One counterpart, one timeline, one accountability. When ASF Jeans runs full package, the fabric we cut is fabric we tested — strength, elasticity, shrinkage, wash reaction — so the responsibility for the finished garment is undivided. Our buying relationships with Turkish mills also mean better fabric prices and lower effective minimums than a young brand can negotiate alone.
When CMT is right
- You are a vertically-integrated brand with existing mill contracts and fabric expertise.
- You use a proprietary or exclusive fabric the factory cannot source.
- Your volumes justify a fabric-buying team.
When full package is right
- First collections and first factories — one throat to choke, in the kindest sense.
- Wash-heavy denim programs, where fabric and laundry must be engineered together.
- Any brand whose team is small enough that coordination time is the scarcest asset.
The hybrid nobody mentions
Mature programs often run both: full package for core denim, CMT for a special fabric capsule. We support either — and will tell you honestly which your project needs. Describe it in the Order Atelier and the quotation will come back structured both ways if it is genuinely close.