Garment cost sheetAll guides
How to make a garment cost sheet
A cost sheet tells you what one garment costs to make and what you can sell it for. Here is what goes on it, a worked example for a shirt, and how to get from unit cost to wholesale and retail price.
What goes on a cost sheet
A cost sheet adds up everything one piece needs, at the quantity you plan to order.
| Line | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Fabrics | Each fabric's price per metre × how much one piece takes, including waste |
| Trims and components | Buttons, zips, labels, care labels, interlining, thread, packaging |
| Manufacturing | Cut, make and trim (CMT), or the factory's full price per piece |
| Processes | Print, embroidery, washing, dyeing, testing |
| Freight and duty | Getting the goods to your warehouse, and import duty where it applies |
Fabric and manufacturing are usually the largest lines. Small items add up too, so put every label and bag on the sheet.
The sum of the first four lines is the unit cost. Add freight and duty and you have the landed cost, which is what the piece really costs you once it arrives.
A worked example
A woven cotton shirt, ordered at 300 pieces:
| Line | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shell fabric | 1.6 m × €6.50 | €10.40 |
| Buttons | 9 × €0.12 | €1.08 |
| Labels and care label | €0.45 | |
| Interlining and thread | €0.60 | |
| CMT | per piece | €14.00 |
| Unit cost | €26.53 | |
| Freight and duty | about 8% | €2.12 |
| Landed cost | €28.65 |
Prices like these change with the order size. A factory's price at 300 pieces is often higher than at 1,000, and fabric mills set minimum order quantities. Cost at the quantity you will actually order.
From cost to wholesale and retail price
Brands usually set the price from the landed cost with a markup, then check the margin it leaves.
- Wholesale price (WSP): what a retailer pays you. Many brands land between 2 and 2.5 times landed cost.
- Retail price (RRP): what the customer pays. Retailers often mark up the wholesale price by 2 to 2.7 times, depending on the market.
For the shirt: €28.65 × 2.3 ≈ €66 WSP, and €66 × 2.5 ≈ €165 RRP.
Margin is what is left as a share of the price: (WSP − landed cost) ÷ WSP. Here that is (66 − 28.65) ÷ 66 ≈ 57%. On your own webshop you sell at RRP, so the margin on direct sales is much higher.
Work backwards too. If the market says the shirt sells at €140, the wholesale price is about €56, and at a 2.3 markup the landed cost has to stay under about €24. That number becomes the target price the product team designs to.
Where cost sheets go wrong
- Old prices. A supplier raises a price and the sheet still has last season's.
- One sheet per style, copied by hand. A fabric change in one place never reaches the twenty styles that use it.
- Missing small items. Labels, bags and hangtags left off the sheet.
- The wrong quantity. Costing at 1,000 pieces and ordering 300.
- Currency. A supplier quotes in dollars and the rate moves before the order.
Costing in Tr3e
Tr3e keeps one bill of materials and manufacturing per variant and adds it up into a live Unit cost, shown against the product's Target Price. Material prices come from their latest recorded order, so a new supplier price updates every style that uses it. The collection's Budget card shows spend, projected revenue and profit from your planned units, and purchase orders can be in the supplier's currency. See How to cost every style.
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