Knitwear Manufacturing in Portugal: MOQs, Prices, Lead Times (2026) | NovaSupplier
Knitwear Manufacturing in Portugal: The Complete Guide for Brands
Matias Santos·
Knitwear is not one category. A seamless sports bra and a fully fashioned merino jumper are both knitwear. They require different machines, different factories, different yarns, different minimums, and different lead times.
Most brands searching for a knitwear manufacturer in Portugal arrive without this distinction clear. They search for a "knitwear factory," approach operations with the wrong production type, and spend weeks finding out the hard way that the factory they contacted makes jumpers, not leggings, or seamless tubes, not linked cardigans.
This guide covers the three knitwear production types, where Portugal genuinely sits in each of them, real MOQ and price ranges by product, yarn sourcing, lead times, and exactly what a knitwear factory brief needs that a cut-and-sew brief does not.
Knitwear is not one category
Most brands searching for a knitwear manufacturer in Portugal make the same mistake before they start: they treat "knitwear factory" as a single type of operation, the way "restaurant" describes a single type of venue.
It does not.
A seamless sports bra and a fully fashioned merino jumper are both knitwear. They are produced on different machines, by factories with entirely different equipment, using different yarns, at different price points, with different lead times and different minimums. The quality of a seamless activewear factory's circular knitting machines tells you nothing about their ability to produce a structured wool cardigan, and vice versa.
Getting this wrong before you start costs months. You end up at factories that are right in geography and wrong in production type, which produces the same outcome as a vague brief: polite declines, or quotes that have nothing to do with what you are actually making.
The first decision in knitwear sourcing is not which factory. It is which type.
The three production types
Seamless (circular knit)
The garment is knitted on a circular machine in a tube, with no side seams. The machine programmes yarn tension, stitch density, and fibre composition at specific points around the tube, creating compression zones, mesh panels, and textured areas within the same garment pass. Finishing is minimal: the tube exits the machine nearly complete and requires only shoulder linking, hem finishing, and any additional panels such as waistbands or gussets.
Seamless is the production method for most activewear: sports bras, leggings, seamless hoodies, base layers, cycling shorts. The standard yarn is polyamide/elastane, typically in an 80/20 or 88/12 PA/EA ratio for sportswear. This gives four-way stretch, compression, and moisture-wicking properties that cut-and-sew jersey cannot replicate.
Portugal has a meaningful cluster of seamless factories in Barcelos and Braga. This is where to look for seamless activewear.
Fully fashioned (flat knit)
Each garment panel is knitted to its exact dimensions on a V-bed flat knitting machine. The machine progressively narrows and widens the panel as it knits, producing a front panel, back panel, and sleeves that require no cutting and generate almost no fabric waste. Panels are then linked together by hand or specialist linking machine.
This is the production method for structured knitwear: jumpers, cardigans, knitted outerwear, knitted trousers. The yarn range is far wider than seamless: wool, merino, cotton, acrylic, cashmere blends, mohair. The result is a garment with structure and drape, with visible "fully fashioned marks" at the seam edges that are a quality signal in premium knitwear.
Portugal has capacity here, but it is not where the strongest European fully fashioned knitwear sits. Italy, Scotland, and parts of Eastern Europe have deeper specialisation in luxury fully fashioned. For contemporary knitwear at accessible mid-to-premium price points, Portuguese factories are viable. For ultra-fine cashmere or high-gauge merino at luxury price points, the conversation starts in Italy.
Technical performance cut-and-sew
A third category that sits between seamless and conventional cut-and-sew: performance fabrics (polyamide/elastane, recycled polyester, technical blends) knitted as fabric rolls and then constructed using specialist techniques, flatlock seams, heat bonding, laser-cut edges, ultrasonic welding. The result is a garment with performance properties close to seamless, but constructed through cutting and assembly rather than circular knitting.
Several Portuguese activewear factories operate in this space. The construction method matters when you brief: a factory configured for technical cut-and-sew and one with circular knitting machines are doing different things, and the garment aesthetics, seam profile, and minimum order logic differ accordingly.
Seamless (circular knit)
Fully fashioned (flat knit)
Technical cut-and-sew
Machine type
Circular knitter (Santoni)
V-bed flat knitter (Shima Seiki, Stoll)
Industrial sewing + bonding / laser
Best for
Activewear, sportswear, base layers
Jumpers, cardigans, structured knitwear
Technical performance apparel
Standard yarn
Polyamide/elastane 80/20
Wool, cotton, merino, acrylic
Polyamide/elastane or rPET fabric rolls
Portugal capability
Strong, dedicated cluster
Moderate
The Portuguese knitwear cluster
Portugal's textile industry is concentrated in the northern Minho region: the corridor running through Barcelos, Braga, Famalicão, and Guimarães, roughly 30–50 kilometres north of Porto. This is where the majority of Portuguese manufacturing capacity sits across all categories.
Within this cluster, knitwear-specific factories concentrate most heavily in the Barcelos-Braga corridor. Most are family businesses. A factory that started producing jerseys in the 1970s or 1980s is now run by the founder's children or grandchildren, with equipment progressively upgraded across decades but a production culture built over generations. Cottonanswer has been a knitwear manufacturer in Portugal since 1962, full cycle, with their own mill and dyeing capacity. Camorsil has operated in Barcelos since 1989 with GOTS, OCS, and OEKO-TEX certification covering all three knitwear production types. ALEC Group, with over 350 staff across seven production units in Barcelos, represents what a fully vertical Portuguese knitwear group looks like at scale.
Vizela, south of Guimarães, has a cluster of sustainable knitwear factories producing with certified organic and recycled materials. Seam Factories operates here, focused on knitwear for brands requiring verified sustainability credentials.
High-volume commodity knitwear where cost is the only variable
This is not a weakness. It is a map. Brands who match their product category to Portugal's genuine strengths find excellent partners and reliable production. Brands who arrive expecting Italian luxury fully fashioned at Portuguese prices leave without a factory.
MOQs for knitwear in Portugal
Knitwear MOQs are calculated differently from cut-and-sew MOQs, and the binding constraint is almost always upstream of the factory.
Production type
MOQ unit
Typical Portugal range
What drives it
Seamless (circular knit)
Per colourway per style
100–300 units
Yarn lot minimum from supplier
Fully fashioned (flat knit)
Per style
200–500 units
Machine programming cost + yarn procurement
Technical cut-and-sew
Per colourway per style
100–300 units
Fabric lot minimum + technical setup
Yarn lot minimums are the real constraint.
In both seamless and fully fashioned, the factory's effective MOQ is often set by the minimum purchase their yarn supplier requires, not by machine utilisation. If a yarn supplier requires a 25kg minimum on a specific polyamide/elastane colourway, and each seamless legging uses 200g of yarn, the practical minimum is 125 units of that colourway before any other consideration enters. Negotiating below this is not about the factory's flexibility. It is about whether they can source the yarn you need from a supplier with a lower minimum, a stock colour, or a different source entirely.
Seamless MOQ is per colourway, not per size. A circular knitting machine runs each size as a separate programme pass. A 150-unit MOQ means 150 units in that colourway, distributed across your size split. You are not ordering 150 units per size.
Fully fashioned MOQ is per style. The machine programming cost, setting up the knitting programme for a specific garment shape, is amortised across the total style order. Additional colourways in the same style add yarn sourcing complexity but not full reprogramming costs. This makes colour variety more economical in fully fashioned than in seamless, at higher per-style minimums.
Price ranges by knitwear type
These are FPP (Full Package Production) prices at typical independent brand volumes. CMT prices are 35–50% lower but require you to supply yarn and trims directly to the factory.
Seamless activewear (FPP, 150–300 units per colourway)
Product
Price per unit FPP
Notes
Sports bra
€14–22
Cup construction complexity and strap design drive the upper range
Higher yarn weight, additional cut-and-sew panels at cuffs and hem
Cycling / gym shorts
€12–20
Lower yarn weight, simpler construction than legging
Seamless long-sleeve top
€16–26
Rib or interlock construction, ribbed cuff and collar
Fully fashioned knitwear (FPP, 200–400 units per style)
Product
Price per unit FPP
Notes
Knitted jumper, standard gauge
€30–58
Yarn type is the largest variable; merino significantly higher than cotton
Knitted cardigan
€38–68
Button placket construction and linking complexity add cost
Knitted polo shirt
€24–42
Simpler construction, lower yarn weight
Knitted trousers
€32–56
More yarn by weight than a jumper
Prices in both categories move significantly with yarn specification. A seamless legging in standard polyamide/elastane sits at the lower end of its range. The same garment in recycled polyamide from an Italian certified mill, Aquafil's Econyl or equivalent, adds 15–25% to yarn cost and pushes the unit price toward the top of the range. For fully fashioned, the difference between standard acrylic and a fine merino or cashmere-blend yarn can shift the price by 40–70%.
Lead times: why knitwear is slower than cut-and-sew
Knitwear lead times are consistently longer than cut-and-sew, and the reason is almost always yarn.
Cut-and-sew factories buy jersey fabric from mills that hold stock. That fabric arrives in one to three weeks for standard options. A knitwear factory works with raw yarn, which has its own procurement lead time, particularly in custom colours, specialty fibres, or certified materials, that sits upstream of everything else.
Typical total lead times from confirmed brief to ex-factory (first order):
Production type
Sampling
Bulk production
Total
Seamless activewear
3–6 weeks
4–8 weeks
10–18 weeks
Fully fashioned knitwear
5–9 weeks
5–10 weeks
14–24 weeks
Technical cut-and-sew
3–5 weeks
3–6 weeks
8–14 weeks
What extends lead time in knitwear:
Custom yarn colour: dyeing to specification adds 4–8 weeks at the mill
Italian yarn sourcing: 4–8 weeks under normal conditions, longer for bespoke orders or peak season
Certified yarns: GOTS organic cotton, GRS recycled polyamide, and bluesign-approved fibres have fewer supplier options and longer minimum lead times
New yarn supplier relationships: factories ordering from a supplier they have not worked with before add qualification time
What keeps lead time shorter:
Specifying yarn the factory already holds in stock or has an active supplier relationship with
Choosing standard colourways rather than custom dye
Designing colour palettes around the mill's standard range
Reorders: a second-season production with the same factory and yarn source typically runs 30–50% faster than the first, because every procurement variable is already resolved
The most practical question to ask in your first factory conversation: "What yarns do you have available within four weeks?" Building your specification and colour palette around that answer is not a creative compromise. It is how experienced knitwear brands plan their calendars.
Yarn sourcing: what Portuguese knitwear factories use
Most Portuguese knitwear factories do not spin their own yarn. They source externally, and where that yarn comes from affects your lead time, certification options, and unit cost.
Portuguese domestic sourcing covers standard commodity cotton and some wool yarns. Portugal has active spinning mills for jersey fabrics and basics, but the range for knitwear yarn, particularly specialty fibres, performance synthetics, and certified organic options, is narrower than Spanish or Italian sources. The advantage is logistics and speed. The constraint is specification range.
Spanish sourcing is common for northern Portuguese factories close to the Galician border. Spanish yarn mills supply the region with standard acrylic, cotton, and cotton-blend yarns at two to four week lead times. This is the most practical source for standard colourways in mainstream fibre types and a meaningful cost saving over Italian sources where specification allows.
Italian sourcing covers the widest range of specialty options and the highest performance specifications. Most of the performance yarn used in Portuguese seamless activewear comes from Italian mills: certified polyamide/elastane (Fulgar, Nylstar), recycled polyamide (Aquafil's Econyl), fine merino and cashmere blends, technical finishes. Lead time from Italian mills is four to eight weeks under normal conditions. The cost premium is real, but for brands where fibre origin or certification is part of the brand story, it is the only viable source.
When you brief a Portuguese knitwear factory with a specific yarn requirement, recycled polyamide, GOTS-certified organic cotton, a particular merino grade, you are specifying a procurement decision, not just a production instruction. The factory places the yarn order, and the production calendar does not start until the yarn arrives. State your yarn requirements at the brief stage, not mid-sampling.
Certifications: what matters for knitwear
The certification landscape for knitwear differs from cut-and-sew jersey. Choosing the wrong certification for your product type creates problems that cannot be solved mid-production.
OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is the most widely applicable certification across all knitwear types. It tests the finished product for harmful substances, residual dyes, chemical finishes, heavy metals, regardless of fibre type. Most Portuguese knitwear factories producing performance activewear can source OEKO-TEX certified yarns from their Italian suppliers, and some hold facility-level certification. For most brands, this is the right starting certification to specify.
GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is relevant for natural fibre knitwear using organic cotton, organic wool, or other certified organic fibres. GOTS requires certification at every stage of the supply chain: the farm, the spinning mill, the dyehouse, and the manufacturing facility. Not all Portuguese knitwear factories hold GOTS facility certification. Ask directly and confirm before submitting a brief that depends on it. GOTS cannot be applied retroactively and is not relevant for synthetic performance knitwear regardless of how the material is marketed.
GRS (Global Recycled Standard) is the relevant certification for brands using post-consumer recycled materials: recycled polyamide (Econyl, recycled nylon), recycled polyester, recycled wool blends. GRS certifies the recycled content claim through the supply chain. Some Italian yarn suppliers that Portuguese factories use hold GRS certification. Specify it at the brief stage so the factory can confirm the yarn source.
For seamless activewear specifically: OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is the practical starting point. GOTS is not applicable to polyamide/elastane seamless. If you are using recycled polyamide, GRS is the certification that supports the claim.
How to brief a knitwear factory
A knitwear brief contains several fields that do not exist in a cut-and-sew brief. Omitting them produces the same result as any incomplete brief: the factory cannot price your product without asking follow-up questions.
Gauge
Gauge describes the fineness of the knit: the number of needles per unit of machine bed. Higher gauge means finer, denser knit. Lower gauge means chunkier, more visible structure.
For seamless activewear: 28–32 gauge is standard for most sports bras and leggings. Heavier seamless hoodies may run lower for texture.
For fully fashioned: 7-gauge is a visible, chunky knit. 12-gauge is a standard mid-weight jumper. 16-gauge is fine and structured. Gauge tells the factory which machines can produce your garment. Not all factories have all gauges, and this is a relevant filter before you invest time in a relationship.
Yarn composition and count
For seamless: specify the polyamide/elastane ratio (80/20 PA/EA is standard performance; 88/12 gives more power stretch; higher elastane increases compression). If you need recycled polyamide, OEKO-TEX certified yarn, or a specific Italian mill supplier, say so.
For fully fashioned: specify the fibre type and yarn count. Yarn count in metric notation (Nm) describes fineness: a 2/28 Nm is a standard mid-weight wool; a 2/48 Nm is a fine merino. Your factory will advise if you do not know the count, but knowing the fibre type and weight class is the minimum to include.
Stitch pattern
For seamless: describe the placement of compression zones, mesh panels, smooth zones, and textured areas by position on the garment. The machine programmes these by location in the tube, and without placement the factory cannot programme or price accurately.
For fully fashioned: specify the stitch structure. Rib (1x1, 2x2), cables, pointelle (small decorative openings), jacquard (colour-patterned), waffle, or links-links (reversible, same stitch both sides). Each requires different machine programming and, for some patterns, different machine types entirely.
Stretch recovery (seamless and performance)
State the target recovery percentage. Performance knitwear typically targets 85–95% recovery: the fabric returns to within 5–15% of its original dimension after 100% stretch. For leggings and sports bras, specify both the target stretch direction (four-way) and the recovery percentage. Without it, the factory applies their standard and it may not match your performance specification.
What a complete knitwear brief looks like
On top of the standard production brief fields, production type, quantities by colourway, target price, timeline, certifications, a knitwear brief adds: gauge, yarn composition, stitch pattern, recovery specification for activewear, and panel placement for seamless garments. On NovaSupplier, the project intake for knitwear projects includes specific prompts for these fields.
Frequently asked questions
Portuguese factories produce across the three main knitwear categories. Seamless circular knit activewear is a genuine strength, with dedicated factories running Santoni machines producing sports bras, leggings, and seamless hoodies in polyamide/elastane. Technical performance cut-and-sew, bonded seams, flatlock, laser-cut edges, is a growing area of capability for activewear brands. Fully fashioned knitwear (jumpers, cardigans) is available at mid-to-premium price points. Ultra-luxury fully fashioned in fine-gauge cashmere or high-count merino is more reliably sourced in Italy or Scotland.
The main Portuguese knitwear cluster is in the Barcelos-Braga corridor in the northern Minho region, roughly 30–50 kilometres north of Porto. Barcelos has a high concentration of seamless and knitwear factories including multi-decade, multi-generation operations. Vizela, south of Guimarães, has a cluster of sustainable knitwear manufacturers working with certified organic and recycled materials. Most factories in this region are family-owned businesses with production histories stretching back decades.
Seamless activewear typically requires 100–300 units per colourway per style. Fully fashioned knitwear typically requires 200–500 units per style. Technical performance cut-and-sew runs 100–300 units per colourway. These minimums are often set by yarn lot minimums from the factory's supplier rather than machine capacity, which is why they can be harder to negotiate downward than cut-and-sew MOQs, the constraint is upstream.
At typical independent brand volumes (150–300 units per colourway for seamless, 200–400 units per style for fully fashioned), FPP prices in Portugal run approximately €14–22 for a seamless sports bra, €18–30 for full-length leggings, €28–46 for a seamless hoodie, €30–58 for a standard-gauge fully fashioned jumper, and €38–68 for a knitted cardigan. Prices vary significantly with yarn type: recycled or specialty fibres from Italian mills can add 15–25% versus standard yarns.
The main variable is yarn lead time. Cut-and-sew factories source jersey fabric from mills that hold stock, with 1–3 week delivery for standard options. Knitwear factories work with raw yarn, which may take 2–8 weeks to source depending on type, origin, and colour specification. Custom yarn colours, certified yarns, and specialty fibres from Italian mills extend this further. Total lead time for seamless activewear in Portugal runs 10–18 weeks from confirmed brief to ex-factory, versus 8–14 weeks for cut-and-sew jersey.
Most Portuguese seamless factories source polyamide/elastane from Italian mills: standard ratios of 80/20 or 88/12 PA/EA for performance activewear. Some factories source recycled polyamide (Aquafil's Econyl, Fulgar's recycled nylon) for brands requiring GRS certification or post-consumer recycled claims. Standard colourways may be available from mill stock. Custom colours require dyeing to specification at the Italian mill, adding 4–8 weeks. Specifying a colour from the mill's existing range is the most effective way to shorten lead time.
A knitwear brief adds several fields beyond the standard production brief. Gauge (the fineness of the knit, measured in needles per unit of machine bed) tells the factory which machines can produce your garment. Yarn composition and count (fibre type, PA/EA ratio for seamless, or Nm count for fully fashioned) specifies the input material. Stitch pattern (rib, interlock, cables, jacquard, or seamless panel placement by garment zone) drives the machine programming. For activewear, stretch recovery percentage (typically 85–95%) is a required performance specification. Include these in the first brief to avoid the back-and-forth that delays production schedules.
If you are sourcing knitwear and need Portuguese factories with confirmed seamless, fully fashioned, or technical performance capability, NovaSupplier matches your brief to the right manufacturers directly. You specify the production type, yarn, gauge, and quantities. The platform routes it to factories that can actually produce it.
