Fashion costing software: what to look for

Most small fashion brands cost their styles in a spreadsheet. It works until the same fabric price lives in ten files, the factory sends a new quote and nobody knows which margin is the real one. This page covers what costing software for fashion should do and how to tell the tools apart.

#What costing software should do

A garment's cost is built from parts that change all season: fabric by the metre, trims by the piece, the factory's price for making it, freight and duty. Costing software keeps those parts in one place and adds them up for you.

The things that matter for a brand of 5 to 50 people:

• Cost per style and colour. A black and an undyed version of the same coat can use different fabrics. The cost has to follow the colour.
• Shared materials. A fabric's price is entered once and every style that uses it updates when it changes.
• Manufacturing per garment. The factory price, with very small prices such as labels and print counted properly.
• Target price next to the real cost. You want to see the gap while the design can still change.
• Prices for every channel. Wholesale and retail prices, and the margin each one leaves.
• The collection as a whole. What the season will cost to produce, what it brings in and the profit, from the planned units.

If a tool only does one style at a time, you still end up adding up the season in a spreadsheet.

#When a spreadsheet stops working

You have probably outgrown the spreadsheet when:

1. Two people keep two versions of the same cost sheet.
2. A fabric price changes and you have to find every style that uses it.
3. You cannot say what the collection will cost before the purchase orders go out.
4. The factory's quote is in another currency and someone converts it by hand.

#How Tr3e handles costing

In Tr3e every product sits in a collection with its colours and sizes. Each variant gets a bill of materials and its manufacturing lines, and the Unit cost adds up as you type. The unit cost sits next to the Target Price, with RRP and WSP on the same product, so the margin is visible while the style can still change.

Materials and components live in the Library. When a price changes there, every style that uses the material picks up the new cost. Sample prices count towards the collection's budget too, so the cost of development is part of the picture.

The collection shows Budget, Budget used, Projected revenue and Profit from the planned units. Purchase orders are written from the same numbers, in the supplier's own currency.

The step-by-step version is in How to cost every style. If you want to try the maths first, the free garment pricing calculator goes from fabric and trims to landed cost, wholesale price, retail price and margin.

#What to ask before you buy

• Does the cost follow each colour, or only the style?
• When a material price changes, does every style update by itself?
• Can you see the collection's total cost and profit before ordering?
• Can the factory's price be in its own currency?
• What does each extra user cost, and do suppliers pay?

#Questions

What is the difference between costing software and a PLM? Costing software works out what each style costs. A PLM also holds the products, materials, deadlines and orders around that cost. For a small brand the useful part is having both in the same place, so the cost and the plan never drift apart.

How do I work out landed cost for a garment? Add up the fabric, trims, labels and packaging, the factory's price for making it, and the freight and duty to bring it to your warehouse. The garment cost sheet guide walks through a full example.

What does Tr3e cost? €40 per user per month, or €400 a year. Viewers and suppliers are free, and the first month is free.

#Next

• How to cost every style
• How to make a garment cost sheet
• Line planning software for fashion brands
• Fashion PLM software compared