Apparel Sourcing Glossary

Factory quote sheets, proforma invoices and audit reports all assume you already speak the language of garment production. This glossary closes that gap: every entry below is written for the buyer reading a Turkish supplier quote, not for a textile engineering exam. Where a term hides a negotiation lever or a common trap, the definition says so plainly.

Entries are grouped alphabetically and cover four areas — fabric and materials, production and sampling, compliance certificates, and the commercial terms that govern payment and shipping. Jump to a letter below, or link colleagues straight to any term using its anchor.

A1 term

AQLCompliance & Certification: Acceptable Quality Limit: the statistical sampling rule inspectors apply to accept or reject a shipment. An AQL 2.5 inspection on major defects — the garment industry norm — defines exactly how many sampled faults fail the lot. Write the AQL level, the defect classification and the inspection stage into your purchase order so a third-party inspection carries contractual weight.

B2 terms

BartackProduction & Sampling: A dense cluster of back-and-forth stitches placed at stress points — pocket corners, belt loops, fly ends, zip bases — to stop seams tearing under load. Counting bartacks is a fast quality check on denim and workwear: skipping them is a classic cost-cutting shortcut that resurfaces as customer returns months after delivery.
BSCICompliance & Certification: A social-compliance auditing system run by amfori that scores factories on labour conditions, working hours, safety and management practice, graded A through E. Large retailers routinely require a recent BSCI audit before onboarding a supplier. Treat the audit date and grade as live data — a three-year-old A rating says less than a fresh C with an active corrective plan.

C3 terms

ChambrayFabric & Materials: A plain-weave cloth combining a dyed warp with a white weft, delivering the light, heathered blue look of denim at shirting weight. Unlike true denim it shows no twill line and washes down softly, which suits shirts, dresses and childrenswear. Buyers spec chambray when they want a denim story without paying denim laundry costs.
CIFTrade & Commerce: Cost, Insurance and Freight: the supplier's price covers goods, sea freight and minimum insurance to your named port, while arrival charges and import clearance stay with you. CIF simplifies budgeting but hides the freight margin inside one figure. If a CIF quote looks attractive, request its FOB equivalent so you can see what the freight portion really costs.
CMTProduction & Sampling: Cut, make, trim: a pricing model where the factory supplies labour and machinery while the buyer sources and ships fabric, trims and patterns. CMT quotes look cheap because they exclude materials, and they hand you every supply risk the factory would otherwise absorb. It suits brands with their own fabric relationships; newcomers are usually better served by full-package pricing.

D3 terms

DDPTrade & Commerce: Delivered Duty Paid: the supplier delivers to your door with duties and import formalities already handled — the most convenient term and the most expensive one. Some Turkish suppliers offer DDP into the EU by leaning on Customs Union advantages. Insist on seeing the customs entries; a cheap DDP built on undervalued declarations becomes your liability, not the shipper's.
Denim weight (oz)Fabric & Materials: Denim is graded in ounces per square yard rather than gsm. Below 10 oz reads as shirting or summer jeans, 11–13 oz covers most five-pocket programs, and 14 oz upward is heavyweight or selvedge territory. The ounce number moves everything downstream: wash recipes, needle sizes, shrinkage allowances and even the freight cost per carton follow it. See Turkish denim manufacturers.
DobbyFabric & Materials: Fabric woven on a loom attachment that lifts individual warp threads to build small geometric textures — dots, waffles, micro-stripes — directly into the cloth instead of printing them on. Dobby shirting gives a plain-colour shirt visible surface interest at a modest premium over poplin. Ask whether the pattern is yarn-dyed or piece-dyed, since that changes both the cost and the fabric minimum.

E2 terms

ElastaneFabric & Materials: The stretch fibre — branded as Lycra or spandex — blended into fabrics at two to eight percent for recovery. Even small percentages change care labelling, cutting behaviour and price per metre. For bodycon or activewear styles, ask how the factory rests elastane fabric before cutting; skipping that relaxation period is a classic cause of garments shrinking a full size.
EXWTrade & Commerce: Ex Works: you take over at the factory gate and arrange everything from there, export clearance included. It shows the lowest figure on paper and often costs the most in practice, since your forwarder must handle Turkish export formalities. Buyers with an established forwarder use EXW to keep freight control; first-time importers generally should not.

F6 terms

FlannelFabric & Materials: A woven cloth — usually cotton twill for shirting — brushed on one or both sides so the raised fibres trap warm air. Brushing hides the underlying weave, so mediocre cloth can imitate better cloth at first touch; judge by the gsm and by how the surface pills after a wash test. Plaid flannels are yarn-dyed, which lengthens the fabric lead time.
FlatlockProduction & Sampling: A stitch that joins two fabric edges butt-to-butt without overlap, leaving a flat, ladder-like seam on both faces. Activewear and base layers rely on flatlock because there is no seam ridge to chafe skin during movement. The stitch needs dedicated machines, so verify a factory really owns them before awarding a leggings or sports program.
FOBTrade & Commerce: Free On Board: the factory price includes getting export-cleared goods onto the vessel or truck at the named Turkish port or terminal, after which cost and risk transfer to the buyer. FOB Istanbul is the most common basis in Turkish apparel quotes, and the fairest one for comparing factories because it strips freight differences out of the number. See shipping from Turkey explained.
Freight forwarderTrade & Commerce: The logistics agent who books transport, prepares export and import documentation and moves your cartons from factory floor to warehouse door. On Turkey–Europe lanes, road freight forwarders quote door-to-door in roughly three to six days. A forwarder who works the Turkish lane daily will also sanity-check a supplier's shipping paperwork before a problem reaches the border.
French terryFabric & Materials: A loopback knit: the face looks like jersey while the reverse carries small uncut loops that trap air without adding much weight. It is the default cloth for mid-weight sweatshirts, joggers and hoodies in the 240–320 gsm band. Brushing those loops turns the same construction into fleece, so one fabric supplier often covers both articles.
Full-package production (FPP)Production & Sampling: The opposite of CMT: the manufacturer buys fabric and trims, develops patterns, sews, finishes and packs against your tech pack, quoting one ready-at-factory price per garment. Most export-oriented Turkish factories operate this way. You trade a little margin for a single point of responsibility — when anything in the garment fails, one company owns the fix.

G6 terms

GabardineFabric & Materials: A tightly woven twill with a steep diagonal rib and a smooth, hard-wearing face, originally developed for rainwear. Trousers, chinos and workwear built from gabardine hold a crease well and resist scuffing at pockets and hems. When a Turkish mill quotes gabardine, confirm the fibre content first — cotton, wool and polyester-viscose versions behave very differently in wear and in the wash.
Garment dyeProduction & Sampling: Dyeing finished sewn garments rather than fabric, which produces saturated, slightly irregular colour and a soft, pre-shrunk hand. It lets a factory sew undyed stock and lets you commit to colours late — powerful for trend-driven lines. Trims must be chosen to survive the dye bath; thread that takes colour differently is the signature defect to inspect for.
GOTSCompliance & Certification: The Global Organic Textile Standard certifies organic fibre content together with the environmental and social conditions of every processing stage from ginning to sewing. A garment sold as GOTS organic needs an unbroken chain of certified suppliers, including the sewing factory itself. Many Turkish mills hold GOTS; fewer garment factories do, so check the final link of the chain first.
GradingProduction & Sampling: Scaling an approved base-size pattern up and down the range using defined increments at each measurement point. Poor grading is why a style can fit perfectly in the sample size and badly in XXL. If you sell across several markets, tell the factory which convention to grade to — EU, UK and US size charts do not translate one-to-one.
GRSCompliance & Certification: The Global Recycled Standard verifies recycled fibre content and tracks it through each production stage, alongside chemical and social criteria. Any product marketed with a recycled percentage should be backed by GRS transaction certificates for that specific order. Recycled cotton and polyester programs from Turkish mills increasingly carry GRS by default — ask for the scope certificate to confirm.
GSMFabric & Materials: Grams per square metre, the standard measure of fabric weight everywhere outside denim. It is the single most useful number on a knit spec: a 160 gsm tee and a 240 gsm tee are different products at different prices even in identical yarn. Fix the gsm with a tolerance — plus or minus five percent is customary — in the order confirmation.

H1 term

HS codeTrade & Commerce: The harmonized commodity code customs authorities use to classify goods and set duty rates; apparel lives in chapter 61 for knits and chapter 62 for wovens. The supplier proposes the code on export papers, but the importer is liable for its accuracy at destination. Verify the code and the resulting duty rate for your market before pricing a product for retail.

I2 terms

IncotermsTrade & Commerce: The standard trade terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce that fix where the seller's responsibility ends and yours begins — who books freight, who insures, who clears customs. Every quote should name one; comparing an EXW number against a DDP number tells you nothing until both are converted to landed cost. FOB and EXW dominate Turkish garment quoting.
InterlockFabric & Materials: A double-knit construction that is effectively two ribs meshed into one cloth, so both sides look identical and the fabric lies flat without curling. Interlock feels thicker and more stable than plain jersey knitted from the same yarn, which suits babywear, polo dresses and premium tees. Expect a higher price per kilo because the knitting runs slower.

J1 term

JerseyFabric & Materials: The workhorse single knit used for T-shirts and lightweight dresses, recognisable by flat vertical lines on the face and loops on the back. It stretches naturally without elastane, drapes softly and curls at raw edges, which is why every opening gets a finished hem or binding. Tee weights typically run 140–200 gsm; anything heavier moves into loopback and sweatshirt territory.

L4 terms

Lab dipProduction & Sampling: A small swatch of your fabric dyed by the mill to match a requested colour standard, submitted for approval before bulk dyeing begins. Review lab dips under the light your product actually sells in, not just office daylight. Approve in writing: the signed dip, not the Pantone card, becomes the reference if the bulk shade drifts. See the sampling process explained.
Landed costTrade & Commerce: The true per-unit cost of stock sitting in your warehouse: factory price plus freight, insurance, customs duty, local haulage and payment or currency fees. Sourcing decisions made on FOB price alone routinely pick the wrong country. For EU buyers, zero duty under the Customs Union is the line item that most often swings a Turkey-versus-Asia landed comparison.
Lead timeTrade & Commerce: The elapsed time from confirmed order — or from approved PPS, depending on the factory's definition — to goods ready for shipment. Turkish bulk lead times commonly run four to eight weeks, with fabric procurement the biggest variable inside that window. Always ask which event starts the clock and whether the quoted weeks include sampling; definitions vary factory to factory.
Letter of credit (L/C)Trade & Commerce: A bank instrument that guarantees the supplier payment once shipping documents matching the agreed terms are presented. It protects both sides but carries bank fees and rigid documentation rules, so it earns its keep on larger orders — typically upward of twenty to thirty thousand dollars. Turkish exporters know the format well; fix the required document list precisely before opening one. See paying suppliers safely.

M3 terms

MarkerProduction & Sampling: The cutting layout that arranges every pattern piece across the fabric width for minimum waste, planned per size ratio before cutting starts. Marker efficiency moves your price directly: a few points of extra fabric utilisation across a long run outweighs most trim savings. It also explains why odd size ratios and single-size reorders can attract surcharges.
Mercerized cottonFabric & Materials: Cotton yarn or fabric treated under tension with caustic soda, which swells the fibre so it reflects light, absorbs dye more deeply and gains tensile strength. Polo programs favour mercerized piqué for its subtle sheen and colour depth. The treatment adds cost per kilo, so ask whether it was applied at the yarn stage, the fabric stage, or both.
MOQTrade & Commerce: Minimum order quantity: the smallest run a factory accepts, quoted per style and often per colour, driven by fabric mill minimums and line-setup economics. Turkish MOQs of 100–300 pieces per style sit well below typical Asian floors. Many factories flex further for a credible brand with reorder potential — stock fabric and combined colourways are the main negotiation levers. See our MOQ negotiation guide.

O3 terms

OEKO-TEX Standard 100Compliance & Certification: A laboratory certification confirming a textile contains no harmful substances above strict limits, tested across every component down to thread and buttons. It certifies the chemical safety of the product — not factory ethics and not organic content, two common confusions. Ask for the certificate number and validity date, then verify both on the public OEKO-TEX register before printing claims on labels. See our certification guide.
OverlockProduction & Sampling: The looping stitch that wraps raw fabric edges as it seams; most knit garments are assembled almost entirely on overlock machines. It is described by thread count — three-thread for edging, four-thread where seams need strength, five-thread for wovens with a safety stitch. Inside a sample, even and tidy overlocking is one of the quickest visible signals of line quality.
Oxford clothFabric & Materials: A basketweave shirting in which paired warp yarns cross a heavier fill yarn, giving a soft, slightly rough texture and a matte finish. Because the weave is airy, oxford shirts survive repeated laundering and read more casual than poplin. Classic button-downs pair a dyed warp with white fill, which produces the marled colour effect the cloth is known for. See wholesale oxford shirts.

P5 terms

PiquéFabric & Materials: A construction with a raised waffle or honeycomb texture, familiar as the classic polo shirt fabric. The textured surface disguises minor creases and stains better than flat jersey and helps a collar keep its shape. Cotton piqué for polos usually sits between 180 and 220 gsm; a touch of elastane suits slimmer cuts.
PoplinFabric & Materials: A plain-weave cotton with a fine crosswise rib, woven closely with more warp threads than weft. It is the default shirting cloth: crisp, smooth, easy to print and comfortable in warm weather. On a quote sheet, the thread count and whether the yarn is carded or combed drive the price far more than the word poplin itself does.
Pre-production sample (PPS)Production & Sampling: The final sample sewn in correct fabric, trims and colours before bulk cutting starts — your last realistic chance to change anything without cost. Signing off the PPS normally converts it into the contractual quality standard for the order. Photograph it thoroughly and keep it safe; inspection disputes are settled against the sealed sample, never against memory.
Private labelTrade & Commerce: Manufacturing carried out to your specification and sold under your own brand: your design or a modified factory design, your labels, your packaging. It differs from white label in the degree of customisation and exclusivity you get. Full-package Turkish factories are built around private label programs for European brands, from tech pack development through to labelled, retail-ready cartons.
Proforma invoiceTrade & Commerce: The document a supplier issues before production, setting out goods, quantities, unit prices, payment schedule, delivery terms and bank details. Once countersigned and backed by your deposit, it functions as the order contract in most Turkish trade relationships. Read it as carefully as any contract — a dispute gets measured against the proforma, not against the email thread.

R1 term

Rib knitFabric & Materials: A knit whose alternating raised and recessed vertical columns give it far more crosswise stretch and recovery than jersey. It is described by the column ratio — 1x1 reads fine and snug, 2x2 bolder — and is the standard choice for neckbands, cuffs and fitted tanks. Confirm that rib trims are knitted from the body yarn lot to avoid shade mismatch.

S5 terms

SateenFabric & Materials: Cotton woven in a satin structure, floating yarns across the surface so the cloth reflects light with a soft lustre. Sateen elevates dresses, linings and premium shirting, but those long floats snag more readily than twill or poplin. If the style is meant for daily wear, ask the mill for an abrasion test result before committing.
Size setProduction & Sampling: A sample round covering every size in the run, sewn to validate the grading before production. Checking the extremes — smallest and largest — on a fit model or mannequin catches most grading faults. For fitted silhouettes or a brand-new block the size set is money well spent; for a repeat of an unchanged style it can often be waived.
SlubFabric & Materials: A deliberate irregularity in yarn thickness that appears as random thicker lines across the finished cloth, lending tees and shirting a textured, vintage character. Genuine slub is spun into the yarn, so the effect never washes out. Because the surface is uneven by design, approve a reference swatch up front — rejecting normal slub variation later is not a valid claim.
SMETACompliance & Certification: A widely used ethical audit format from Sedex covering labour standards, health and safety, environment and business ethics. Unlike a certification it produces an audit report rather than a pass or fail, so request the report itself instead of accepting the bare claim of having been audited. The non-conformities and their closure records hold the useful information.
Strike-offProduction & Sampling: The print equivalent of a lab dip: a short test run of your artwork on the actual production cloth, checking colour, scale and registration before the full print job. Screen-print strike-offs also confirm hand feel, because heavy ink deposits can stiffen light knits. Budget one strike-off round into the timeline of every printed style.

T4 terms

T/T (telegraphic transfer)Trade & Commerce: A standard international bank wire — the payment method behind most Turkish garment orders. The usual structure is a 30–50 percent deposit at order confirmation with the balance paid against shipping documents or a passed inspection. Never wire to an account name that differs from the contracting company, and treat any last-minute bank-detail change as fraud until verified by phone.
Tech packProduction & Sampling: The technical document that turns a design into instructions a factory can price and sew: flat sketches, graded measurement charts with tolerances, fabric and trim details, stitch types, label placement and packing rules. A complete tech pack is the strongest predictor of an accurate first sample, and factories quote faster and noticeably tighter when one arrives attached to the RFQ. See our tech pack guide.
TrimsProduction & Sampling: Everything attached to a garment that is not fabric: buttons, zips, drawcords, elastics, woven labels, interlinings and hangtags. Trims cause a disproportionate share of production delays because each item has its own supplier and lead time. Nominating standard, locally stocked trims — or pre-approving substitutes — is one of the easiest ways to protect a delivery date.
TwillFabric & Materials: Any weave that offsets each row of interlacing by one thread, producing the diagonal line visible on denim, chino and gabardine. The structure packs yarn densely, so twills outlast plain weaves of equal weight and drape with more body. When comparing quotes, note whether the construction is 2/1 or 3/1 — the heavier build costs more but hides wear longer.

V1 term

ViscoseFabric & Materials: A regenerated cellulose fibre offering the drape and coolness of silk at a fraction of the price, used heavily in Turkish dress and blouse production. It sews beautifully but shrinks and weakens when wet, so after-wash measurements matter more than cut measurements. Specify plain viscose, EcoVero or modal explicitly — the sustainability story differs across the three.

W1 term

White labelTrade & Commerce: Buying an existing factory design — already patterned, tested and running in production — with your brand label sewn in. Development cost is zero and minimums are low, but the identical garment may be sold to other buyers in other markets. It is the fastest route to branded stock and a sensible first order while a custom range is still in development.

Met a term your supplier keeps using?

The context usually lives in one of our sourcing guides — or ask the factory directly through a free quote request.

Read the guides Send an RFQ