Why “beautiful and expensive” does not necessarily mean profitable.
- What the cost price is really made of.
- Why a high price does not guarantee profit.
- Typical mistakes: complex styles at a low price.
- The balance between design, technology and price.
1. How to calculate the cost price of a garment
Cost price is all the expenses needed for the garment to appear “on the hanger”.
Roughly, we can divide it into:
1. Materials
– main fabric
– lining
– fusibles / interlinings
– threads
– trims / notions
– decorative / finishing details
We calculate: consumption × price.
2. Development and preparation
– patterns and style development
– toile / sample and fittings
– corrections / adjustments
– grading
– TOM (technical description of the style), operation / technology sheet
These costs are spread over the production run (if the style is made in more than one piece).
3. Sewing
– sewing labour
– cutting (if charged separately)
– pressing / wet-heat treatment
4. Overheads
– rent
– equipment
– electricity
– packaging, labels, tags
– accounting, taxes, etc.
Simple formula:
Cost price = Materials + Development
(allocated per garment) + Sewing + Overheads
2. Why “expensive” does not mean “profitable”
A high price on the tag does not necessarily mean that the brand is making money.
What matters is not only how much we sell for, but also:
- how much the garment really costs (including development and mistakes),
- how much was spent on photos, marketing, promotion,
- how many pieces remained unsold or were sold with a discount,
- how many went into defects, reworking, returns.
A complex style sold “cheap for the sake of the market”
may in the end bring zero or even negative result,
even if the price looks high.
3. Mistakes of beginner brands: they order complex styles and sell them cheap
A typical scenario:
- a very complex style is created
(many seams, panels, decorative elements, hand operations), - complex patterns, fittings and grading are paid for,
- the seamstress has to spend a lot of time on each piece,
- in retail — a price “like mass market, so that it will sell”.
Result:
- a lot of work, little money,
- fatigue and burnout,
- the feeling that “production eats everything”.
Conclusion:
a complex design requires an appropriate price.
If clients are not ready to pay for this complexity,
the construction needs to be simplified, not the payment of the makers reduced.
4. Balance between design, technology and price
A working formula for a style:
Design + Technology + Price must be in balance.
- If the idea is too complex for the target price — quality suffers.
- If technology is ignored — the style “does not live” in production.
- If the price does not reflect the real cost price — the brand cannot grow.
A sensible approach:
- do not overload styles with unnecessary details and handwork
if this is not a high-end atelier / haute couture; - think about repeatability — can this be sewn consistently in batches;
- calculate styles not only “by fabric”, but also by development and technological operations.
An honest test for a brand:
If after all the calculations you see
that from each sold piece you are left with less
than the value of one hour of your work,
— then it is not a business, but charity in favour of other people’s wardrobes.
