After you have established a clothing brand and designed your own clothing, you need to know how much your clothing costs cost. Calculating fabric costs is one of the most important parts of starting a garment manufacturing unit. Fabric cost usually depends on the textile price. Therefore, you should have a clear idea of how much you can spend on materials and set a reasonable fabric budget. Next I will show you how to determine the right fabric price for your needs.

First let’s understand the price and associated costs

When you estimate your development costs, work backwards and set the price at which you want to sell your apparel product. Once you have determined the figure for the selling price of the garment, calculate how much you plan to spend on manufacturing costs and what your expected profit margin will be.

For example, let’s say you are designing a T-shirt and plan to sell it for $50. If you want to make a profit of $25 per product, then you need to budget the remaining $25 for manufacturing costs. This budget will include all costs, such as fabric, labor, packaging, shipping, etc.

The next step is to calculate the cost of labor.

To do this, you can consult with a textile company and get an estimate of the material used to make the garment. This will give you an idea of the cost of cutting, trimming, packaging and shipping. For example, let’s assume that the labor cost and other associated costs for each sweatshirt are about $10. This means you have $15 left to spend on the cost of fabric for each t-shirt.

The fabric cost is not just the fabric; the fabric budget should also include the cost of zippers, buttons, elastic or other accessories other than the garment fabric. So if each t-shirt costs $10 for the fasteners, you’ll be left with $15. However, before you start thinking about spending your entire budget on fabric materials, you should also consider the final yield. Consider how many garments you can produce from one yard of fabric. Fabric cutting is not based on the calculation of area in mathematics; there are bound to be trimmings when you cut, and when calculating how many garments to produce from one yard of fabric, you need to consider the shape of the fabric needed for the garment and multiply that by the quantity you get.

For example, if the fabric manufacturer says the yield is 0.5, that means you can produce two sweatshirts from the material provided by the factory. So, multiply that by the fabric budget you have. Here, you will get $7.50, and you can use the rest of that money to choose the best fabric material for your sweatshirt production. When the production volume is less than one, then you need to increase the final price of your product, keep the fabric budget at the same level and purchase the best material to make your garment.

Final Words

We are a professional custom garment manufacturer in China.
*We support OEM/ODM service. Design/logo/fabric/color/size/label/hangtag/packaging, everything can be made according to your requirements.
*Minimum order quantity is 200 pieces/color/design.
*Sample delivery time: 5-7 days.
*Mass production time: 18-25 days.
*We are close to fabric suppliers and loading ports, with a wide selection of fabrics and easy shipping.

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