If you are starting in garments or fashion, one decision shapes most of the others: do you produce in-house, or work with a manufacturer under CMT — cut, make and trim, known in Indonesia as makloon?
Neither is universally better. They suit different situations, and the honest comparison is worth making before you commit.
Producing in-house
The advantage is control. You decide the schedule, the quality standard and the priorities, and nothing is queued behind another client’s order.
The costs are substantial and mostly fixed. You need premises — bought or rented. You need machinery. You need to recruit, train and retain operators, and pay them whether this month is busy or not.
There is also a constraint people underestimate: your capacity is capped by your capital. Producing more means more raw material, more machines and more people — all at once, and all in advance of the revenue. Growth becomes a financing problem rather than a sales one.
Using a CMT manufacturer
The advantage is that production becomes a variable cost instead of a fixed one. No equipment to buy, no permanent payroll. You find a manufacturer whose capability and capacity match what you need, and you pay per unit.
That frees you to concentrate on product development and brand — the parts of a clothing business that actually differentiate it. Production is handed to a partner who already knows how to do it, which also saves the months you would otherwise spend learning.
So which one?
It depends on your situation, and the honest answer is usually sequential rather than either/or. Most brands start with CMT, because it lets them test whether the product sells before committing capital to machinery. Bringing production in-house makes sense later, when volumes are predictable enough that the fixed costs are justified — and some very successful brands never do.
If CMT is the right starting point, the next task is choosing a manufacturer with genuine experience in your product type.
Working with us
PT Sansan Saudaratex Jaya accepts job orders, CMT and full-package production. Our textile facility handles sizing, dyeing — reactive, continuous vat and pigment — and finishing, feeding fabric directly into garment production on the same site.
Get in touch through our contact page to discuss what you need.