CMT Cost per T-Shirt in Turkey: How to Calculate and Compare Quotes

What is included in a CMT T-shirt price?

A quote figure means little until its scope is clear. This guide covers sewing labor only; fabric, trims and printing come on top. For the total cost including fabric and trims, see T-shirt production cost.

Sewing only, cutting included and full package

In Turkish trade usage, “fason” usually means that the brand supplies the fabric and trims. That splits into sewing only (cut pieces arrive at the workshop) and cutting included (the workshop also cuts; CMT, cut-make-trim, “kes-dik-teslim” in Turkish). Full package is a third model: the workshop also sources fabric and trims and sells the finished product at one price. The trade often calls this FOB, although FOB is formally an Incoterms delivery term. A full-package price is a product price, not a sewing fee, so it cannot be compared directly with the calculation here.

What a CMT quote usually leaves out

Ask about each item in the table; a “yes, included” should be written in the quote, not just said.

How is CMT cost calculated?

A workshop's quote rests on this formula:

Price per piece = (SMV × minute cost ÷ efficiency) + overhead + profit

Standard minute value (SMV) and the T-shirt operation sequence

SMV is the time a trained operator needs for a job at a standard pace; it is also written SAM (standard allowed minute). The ILO's work-study handbook defines standard time as the total time in which a job should be completed at standard performance, expressed in standard minutes or standard hours. The observed time is adjusted for the operator's pace, and allowances for rest and unavoidable delays are added. For a style, SMV is set by time study or with predetermined time standards, which the same handbook covers in a separate chapter.

Building an SMV operation by operation starts with the operation sequence. The MEGEP “T-Shirt Sewing” module of Turkey's Ministry of National Education gives this example plan for training purposes:

1. Join the ends of the collar rib or band (overlock)
2. Join the shoulders; a stay tape (“ekstrafor” in Turkish) is added to stop the shoulder seam from stretching (overlock)
3. Attach the collar rib or band to the body (overlock)
4. Attach the sleeves to the body (overlock)
5. Join the side seams, starting from the sleeve end (overlock)
6. Finish the sleeve openings and the hem (overlock; the module also describes finishing with a coverstitch)
7. Fix the sleeve and side seam allowances on a straight-stitch machine
8. Trim loose threads
9. Final pressing, final inspection and packing

An overlock machine trims the fabric edge while it sews an edge-wrapping stitch. Coverstitch (“reçme” in Turkish) is the stitch used on the hems and sleeve openings of knit garments, with two lines of stitching visible on top and one underneath. Real lines split or merge these operations depending on the style, the machine park and the line layout. Each extra detail, such as a pocket, a slit or a band, adds operations and time, and the sum of the operation times is the SMV of the style.

The workshop's minute cost

The minute cost is what one operator-minute costs the workshop; the workshop's other expenses enter the formula separately as an overhead allowance. The main items:

• Labor: The minimum wage is the floor reference. Turkey's Minimum Wage Determination Commission set the 2026 daily gross minimum wage at TL 1,101 (Official Gazette, December 26, 2025), or TL 33,030 gross per month. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security's calculation table for January 1 - December 31, 2026 puts the monthly cost of a minimum-wage employee to the employer (gross wage plus the employer's social security and unemployment insurance contributions) at TL 40,874.63 without any social security premium discount, and TL 39,223.13 with the 5-point discount given to manufacturing. As of the date of this article, that discount applies to private-sector manufacturing employers until December 31, 2026 under Article 81/1-(ı) and provisional Article 108 of Law No. 5510, provided conditions such as timely filing and payment and no debt to the social security institution (SGK) are met; the workshop's accountant can say whether it qualifies. Operator and foreman wages can exceed the minimum wage, so use the figure in the workshop's own payroll.
• Working time: Under Article 63 of the Labor Law (No. 4857), normal working time is generally at most 45 hours a week; under Article 41, work beyond that is overtime, except where an averaging arrangement applies. Dividing the monthly wage by this time gives the cost per minute.
• Overhead allowance: Rent, electricity, machine maintenance and spare parts, machine depreciation, support staff (pressing, packing, quality, foreman), accounting and insurance.
• Efficiency: Here, efficiency is the pieces produced × SMV divided by the total operator minutes spent (number of operators × minutes worked). Machine breakdowns, waiting for material, rework and style changeovers lower it.
• Profit margin: The margin that covers the workshop's investment and risk.

Worked example (hypothetical)

Warning: Every figure below is an assumption. None of it is a market price or a real workshop's quote. The numbers were chosen only to show how the formula works. Write your own figures in the “Your value” column and rerun the calculation.

Assumptions

Calculation steps (intermediate values are rounded; all amounts in TL, excluding VAT)

The guide gives no USD or EUR figure for the example: the exchange rate moves and was not one of the sourced inputs, so step 8 is yours. Wages are paid in lira, so a quote in USD or EUR carries an exchange-rate assumption; ask which rate the workshop used.

The result is not a market price, an average or a recommended price; do not use it as a reference when evaluating quotes. What teaches is how the inputs move it. Because overhead and profit are set as percentages of labor, the total changes in the same proportion as labor: if efficiency falls from 60% to 50%, the price rises by about 20%, and at 70% it falls by about 14%. If SMV rises from 8 to 10 minutes, the price rises by 25%; at 6 minutes it falls by 25%. The operator's wage has the same linear effect. So two workshops that pay the same wage can still quote different prices if their efficiency and SMV assumptions differ, which is why you should ask for both.

What changes the CMT price of a T-shirt?

The table shows the direction and mechanism of each factor and what to ask. No sourced data gives the size of these effects, so it contains no percentages or lira figures; the explanations rest on general production logic and vary with the workshop, the style and the fabric. This guide makes no claim about price differences between regions, because no sourced comparison exists.

Are there standard CMT price ranges? How to read prices you find online

As of October 8, 2026 we found no price data set with a stated method, and no TL range on which two independent sources agree, for contract T-shirt sewing. Tekstil Rehberi therefore does not print a range: an unsourced range turns into a false reference point in negotiation.

When you read an “average” CMT price online, ask four things. Is it dated? Exchange rates and the minimum wage change, so an old figure loses its meaning. Is the scope clear: sewing only, or with cutting, pressing and packing, and is VAT included? For which fabric, style and quantity was it calculated? And how was it found, since a figure with no stated method cannot be verified? If any answer is missing, do not use the figure as a reference; ranges with far-apart limits do not help a decision either. Do this instead:

1. Collect written quotes for your own style on the same scope.
2. Ask each workshop for the operation list and the SMV it assumes. Divide each quote by its SMV to get a “price per SMV”, which separates the effect of styles of different difficulty from the effect of different assumptions.
3. Run the calculation in this guide with your own inputs and compare it with the quote. If the gap is large, ask which input (efficiency, SMV, overhead, scope) explains it.

Costs outside the sewing price

The sewing price is only one part of total cost. Other items that belong in the budget:

• Fabric wastage and marker efficiency: If marker efficiency is low, more fabric is used for the same number of T-shirts. It does not show up in the sewing price.
• Sample and pattern fee: A sample garment can be priced separately; have the quote state whether it is free and whether the fee is deducted if you order. For the sample stages, see types of garment samples.
• Defects, returns and wastage allowance: Settle who corrects a defective piece, how fast, at what cost and what wastage allowance is acceptable together with the price. Tekstil Rehberi recommends writing lead time, payment, wastage and quality terms into a contract (see the garment manufacturing agreement guide); take legal advice, because this guide is not legal advice.
• Printing, embroidery, freight and cartons: Printing and embroidery are priced separately (see textile printing methods); moving fabric to the workshop and goods back is a further cost.
• VAT: As of October 8, 2026, section I/C-2.1.3.2.7 of the Turkish VAT General Implementation Communiqué places contract textile and clothing work under partial withholding, applied by the buyer groups the Communiqué lists (VAT payers and designated buyers). The same section makes it a condition of contract work that the raw materials, above all the main raw material, are supplied by the party commissioning the work, and it treats auxiliary materials such as thread and buttons as included in the contract-work fee, so they are not invoiced separately. The rate and calculation are outside this guide. Whether withholding affects an order placed from abroad is a question for the workshop's accountant. Legislation can change, so clarify the invoicing method with a Turkish accountant; this is not tax advice.

Turkish quote terms decoded

Checklist for comparing CMT quotes

Collecting at least three quotes on the same scope is the practical way to test both the calculation and the price. In order:

1. Prepare the documents: A tech pack (measurement chart, stitch types, label positions, packing details) or clear images and a measurement chart; fabric information (type, weight in GSM); the size, color and quantity breakdown; the lead time you need.
2. Collect at least three quotes on the same scope: Put the included/excluded questions above to every workshop in the same way, and do not compare quotes before the scope is equalized.
3. Settle the sample: Approval, fee and lead time, and put in writing that the approved sample is the reference for production.
4. Write down wastage, defect and delay responsibility: Who pays, in which case and how much.
5. Set payment and term: Advance, term in days and invoice date; for a quote not in TL, the currency and the exchange-rate date.
6. Confirm invoicing and VAT with a Turkish accountant: Whether the price is exclusive or inclusive of VAT, whether withholding applies and which items go on the invoice.

You can put quotes side by side with this template:

Why a very low quote needs an explanation

A quote clearly below the others is not always a problem: a workshop may run at high efficiency, keep its profit margin low to fill capacity, or price a different scope. Still, do not decide before the gap is explained. Watch for three things:

• Scope difference: Pressing and packing, label attaching, thread trimming or quality control may be left out and show up later as extra items. Pressing and packing is run as a separate section under its own supervisor in a workshop, so it may appear as its own line.
• Quality control: A price achieved by cutting inspection steps can come back to you as rework and returns.
• Lead-time risk: A workshop that takes on more work than its capacity allows may deliver late, and overtime costs can come up afterwards.

Ask the workshop for its SMV assumption, its efficiency expectation and the operations included in the price, in writing. If the answers are consistent, the gap may be legitimate. For the criteria to assess a workshop, see how to choose a CMT workshop in Turkey.

Next steps

Once you have run the calculation with your own inputs and brought the quotes to the same scope, the next steps are the agreement and the choice of workshop: see the manufacturing agreement guide and the 10 criteria for choosing a CMT workshop. You can browse firms that do contract sewing on the CMT sewing workshops page; verify every company yourself. The price ranges and the calculation method here are general information; get help from the relevant specialist on the invoice, VAT and contract terms in a quote.