White label: the producer’s product, your name
A white-label product already exists in the producer’s range. The recipe, the format and usually the packaging structure stay the same; only the printed artwork changes to your brand. That is why the minimum is lower and the timeline shorter: the producer prints your film or box after you approve the artwork and runs the same line it runs every week. Most first own-brand orders from the US are white label in this sense, whether the buyer calls them that or not.
Private label: a product built to your specification
A private-label product changes something inside: the recipe, the inclusion, the weight, the shape or a certification requirement. The producer now has to develop, test and often source differently, so the minimum per line rises and the timeline includes sampling rounds. Not every producer offers this, and those who do offer it only on selected lines. When a US brand asks for a pistachio bar with a different fat family or a new filling, that is private label; when it asks for the existing bar in its own wrapper, that is white label.
What Gaziantep producers offer
The producers we work with print own-brand artwork on selected lines after approval: the filled bar, the pistachio tablet, the cups, the spread jars, boxed lokum and dragée retail packs. Recipe changes are possible on some lines after the producer confirms. In both cases the minimum per line is in the offer, the producer is named, and the producer prints, not us. We are an export company, not the factory.
Responsibility does not move with the name
Whatever the label says, the US importer or brand owner is the responsible firm on the pack and the importer of record with the FDA. The producer supplies the ingredient, allergen and nutrition data; you approve the artwork; the producer prints. Certificates stay in the producer’s name. A supplier who offers to put certificates in your name is offering something that does not exist.
Artwork, timeline and the sample round
For white label the sequence is short: the producer sends the packaging die-line, you return the artwork, the producer proofs it and prints once approved, and the line runs at the next scheduled slot. For private label a sample round comes first: the producer makes a bench sample of the changed recipe, you approve or adjust it, and only then is the packaging opened. Each round adds weeks, which is why a brand launching for a season plans private label a year ahead and white label a quarter ahead.
How to ask for either
Send the line, the format and whether you want the existing product in your artwork or a change inside. Within two working days you receive a written offer in US dollars, FCA Gaziantep, FOB Mersin, CIF or DAP, with the producer named, the minimum per line and the timeline for artwork or development. Prices are not on the site. Samples of the existing line go out first, free from running production, courier at your cost.
Which is cheaper per unit, white label or private label?
White label, because the producer runs an existing line; a recipe change adds development and a higher minimum. Exact figures are in the written offer, not on the site.
Can a US brand start with white label and move to private label later?
Yes. Most do: the first order proves the channel with the existing product in your artwork; the second order changes what is inside.
Who prints the packaging?
The producer, after you approve the artwork. We supply the packaging data your label needs; the producer prints; certificates stay in the producer’s name.
