When a brand starts producing its own clothing, one of the first decisions is how much of the supply chain to manage itself. At one end, you buy fabric, trims and labels yourself and pay a factory only to sew. At the other end, a single partner delivers a finished garment, ready to sell. That second model is called full-package production, often shortened to FPP or "full package."
What full package includes
A full-package partner takes responsibility for every step between your design and goods ready to ship:
- Development: turning a sketch, reference garment or tech pack into patterns and graded sizes.
- Materials: sourcing fabric, lining, thread, zippers, buttons, labels, hangtags and packaging.
- Costing: a price per unit that already includes materials, labor, finishing and packing.
- Sampling: proto, fit and pre-production samples, with your comments built in at each round.
- Production and quality control: cutting, sewing, finishing, in-line inspection and a final audit.
- Shipping: packing to your specification, freight booking and export documents.
Full package vs. cut-make-trim (CMT)
Under CMT, the factory cuts, sews and finishes, but you supply the materials. You control every fabric and trim decision, and you carry the work and risk of getting them to the factory on time. If one trim arrives late, the whole order waits.
Under full package, those materials become the supplier's responsibility. You approve them, but you don't buy or ship them. The unit price looks higher because materials are included, yet the total cost of the order is often similar once you count your own time, freight on materials and the cost of delays.
CMT suits brands with their own sourcing team and established material suppliers. Full package suits brands that want one accountable partner and a single price per finished unit.
When full package makes sense
- You're launching or growing a line and don't have a buying office overseas.
- You want one contract and one point of contact, not separate fabric, trim and sewing suppliers.
- Your products use standard construction where the factory's own material network is an advantage.
- You'd rather spend your time on design, sales and customers than on chasing shipments of buttons.
What to settle before your first order
- A clear brief. A tech pack is best, but a reference garment with written changes also works. See how to write a tech pack a factory can quote from.
- Target price and quantity. Both shape which factory and which fabrics make sense.
- Delivery date. Work backwards from when you need goods in your warehouse, allowing for sampling and ocean freight.
- Quality standard. Agree what will be inspected, when, and what counts as a defect.
- Compliance. Ask which factory audits are current. We explain the main ones in WRAP, BSCI and Sedex/SMETA.
How Dragon Charm runs full package
We run full-package production across our partner factories in Bangladesh, China and Pakistan, managed from New York. You sign with a US company, get open-book costing on every line, and have one point of contact through design, sourcing, sampling, QA and shipping. See our five-stage process or browse products such as activewear and knitwear.