Should I include my own time if I'm a solo maker?

Yes — cost your own time at a genuine hourly rate, even if you don't pay yourself that rate yet. Otherwise your pricing will always understate what the business needs to charge to be sustainable as it grows or if you ever hire help.

What's a reasonable overhead percentage to start with?

15-30% of direct costs is a common starting range for small studios, covering things like rent, equipment, packaging, software and admin time. As the business grows and overhead costs become clearer, replace the estimate with an actual calculated figure based on total overhead ÷ units produced.

Does this include packaging and shipping costs?

No — this calculator covers production cost only (fabric, trim, labour, overhead). Add packaging and shipping as separate line items when setting your final retail price, particularly for direct-to-consumer sales.

Garment Costing Calculator — Free Apparel & Fashion Trade Calculator

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A wholesale buyer has asked for your price list, and before you quote anything you want a real number for what each piece actually costs to make — not a guess based on last season's spreadsheet.

Garment Costing Calculator

Costing & Pricing

Fabric cost per unit ($)

Trim/notions cost per unit ($)

Labour hours per unit

Labour rate ($/hr)

Overhead (%, optional)

Direct cost = Fabric + Trim + (Labour hours × rate)
Total cost = Direct cost × (1 + Overhead%)

Overhead covers rent, equipment, utilities and admin time not captured in direct labour — a common starting estimate is 15-30% of direct costs for a small studio.

Reference: Standard cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) method used across small-batch apparel manufacturing

ℹ️ Estimate only for business planning purposes. Verify against your actual costs, supplier quotes and local regulations before pricing or committing to a production run.

1 What this calculator does

Calculates the true cost to produce one unit of a garment by combining fabric, trim/notions and labour costs, then applying an overhead percentage to cover indirect business costs. This is the foundation figure every wholesale and retail price should be built from.

2 Formula & professional reasoning

Direct cost = Fabric cost + Trim cost + (Labour hours x Labour rate)
Total cost per unit = Direct cost x (1 + Overhead % / 100)

Many small apparel businesses price based on fabric cost alone, which systematically underprices the garment because labour and overhead are just as real a cost as materials. This calculator forces all three direct cost components into the number, then layers on an overhead percentage — a standard COGS (cost of goods sold) approach used in manufacturing generally, adapted for small-batch and made-to-order apparel production. Getting this number right is the single biggest lever on whether a business is actually profitable at the prices it charges.

3 Worked examples

⚠️ Illustrative example only — not clinical or professional instruction.

Basic

Simple cotton t-shirt

Given: Fabric $8.00, trim $0.50, labour 0.3 hrs at $25/hr, no overhead entered

Working: Labour = 0.3x25 = $7.50 | Direct = 8+0.5+7.5 = $16.00

Answer: Total cost: $16.00 per unit

💡 With no overhead applied, this is the bare minimum cost — real pricing should still add overhead before setting a sale price.

Standard

Lined dress with overhead

Given: Fabric $22.00, trim $6.50, labour 1.5 hrs at $30/hr, 20% overhead

Working: Labour = 1.5x30 = $45.00 | Direct = 22+6.5+45 = $73.50 | Total = 73.50x1.2 = $88.20

Answer: Total cost: $88.20 per unit

💡 Labour dominates the cost here — a common finding for detailed garments, which is why hand-finished pieces command higher prices than simple silhouettes.

Advanced

Structured jacket, high overhead studio

Given: Fabric $45.00, trim $18.00, labour 4 hrs at $35/hr, 30% overhead

Working: Labour = 4x35 = $140.00 | Direct = 45+18+140 = $203.00 | Total = 203x1.3 = $263.90

Answer: Total cost: $263.90 per unit

💡 At this cost, keystone (2x) wholesale pricing alone would price the piece at $527.80 retail — worth checking against comparable market pricing before committing to the design.

4 Sanity check

Typical overhead range

15-30% of direct costs is a common range for small/home-based studios; larger operations with more overhead (rent, staff, equipment) often run higher

If overhead feels too low, revisit whether rent, insurance, software and admin time are genuinely accounted for elsewhere

Labour as % of total cost

For garments with meaningful construction time, labour often makes up 40-60% of direct cost — if it's much lower, double-check the hours entered are realistic

Fabric cost sanity check

Fabric cost per unit should roughly match: (fabric price per metre) x (yardage required) — cross-check with the Fabric Yardage Estimator

Comparing to market price

If total cost is close to or above what similar garments retail for elsewhere, the design, fabric choice or production method likely needs revisiting before launch

5 Common errors

Error	Cause	Consequence	Fix
Forgetting to include your own labour time	Only costing fabric and trim, treating design/sewing time as 'free' because it's the owner doing it	Systematically underprices the business and makes it impossible to ever pay yourself a wage from the margin	Always cost your own time at a real hourly rate, even in the early stages — you can absorb some as 'sweat equity' consciously, but the number should still exist
Excluding overhead entirely	Pricing only on direct fabric+labour+trim cost with 0% overhead	Doesn't account for rent, equipment depreciation, software subscriptions, packaging or admin time — margin looks healthier than it really is	Add a realistic overhead percentage (commonly 15-30%) even as a placeholder while refining actual overhead costs
Using average fabric cost instead of actual usage	Estimating fabric cost from total fabric spend ÷ number of garments made, rather than actual yardage per garment	Inaccurate for a product mix with different fabric requirements per style	Calculate fabric cost per unit from actual yardage required for that specific garment (see the Fabric Yardage Estimator) x price per metre
Not updating costs when fabric or labour rates change	Using a costing figure from a previous season without revisiting input costs	Margins erode silently as material and labour costs rise over time	Recalculate garment costs each production run or season, especially when fabric suppliers or labour rates change