Clothing order cost estimator for Bangladesh

No. It is your quantity multiplied by a price per piece you type in, so it is only as good as that price. We publish no prices: a quote depends on the fabric weight and fibre you choose, whether the colour is a stock shade or a custom dye lot, the decoration, the quantity per colour, testing your market requires, and the shipping term. Fabric alone is close to half of a garment price, so a heavier or certified fabric can move the figure by more than any other choice. Use the estimate to turn a price into an order budget and to see where the money goes, then send a tech pack or a reference garment and we will reply within one working day, then send a first costing built line by line. Sampling, laboratory testing and freight are always listed separately, so the price per piece means what it says.

Because a factory’s minimum applies per colour, not per style. Fabric is knitted and then dyed in lots, and each colour is its own dye lot with its own minimum quantity of fabric, so three colourways of one t-shirt are three separate commitments even though the pattern and the sewing are the same. A 900-piece order in three colours is 300 pieces per colour, which is below our 500-piece t-shirt minimum; the same 900 pieces in one colour clears it. This is also the easiest lever for a smaller brand: fewer colours per style, or a stock shade the mill already holds rather than a custom colour, brings a small order within reach without changing the design. Our minimum order guide explains the other levers, and which route suits which quantity.

From a 2023 study published in the Journal of Textile Science and Technology, which analysed the cost sheets of four Bangladeshi garment factories for basic products and reported the share of the garment price taken by fabric, trims, accessories, cost of making and other costs. For a t-shirt the study found fabric at 42.6%, trims 3.8%, accessories 8.5%, cost of making 15.2% and other costs 30%; for a polo shirt, fabric was 52.3%. The estimator applies the first four shares to the order total at the price you enter, and shows the last line as what remains, because the study’s rounded shares do not total 100%. They are averages from that study, not our own cost sheet for your style, which is why the split is shown only for the three products the study covered and is labelled as an illustration. The cost guide linked on this page reproduces the study’s table and cites it.

It depends on the product. For the knit categories our sister factory makes in small runs, runs from 150 pieces per style and colour go to that factory, which quotes them itself; the estimator tells you when your quantity falls into that route. For other categories, a smaller order can sometimes be brought within reach by using a stock fabric so no dye lot is needed, by merging two styles that share a fabric, or by accepting a surcharge per piece for a short run, all agreed in writing before the order. What does not work is asking for the export price at the small-run quantity, because the fabric minimums and set-up costs in the cost sheet do not allow it. Tell us your quantity in the first message and we will say which route applies before you spend time on samples.

Line by line for a dozen garments, then divided by twelve: that is how the four Bangladeshi factory cost sheets in a 2023 study in the Journal of Textile Science and Technology are built, the study behind our order cost estimator’s split. Its t-shirt sheet shows the order. Fabric is the kilograms used per dozen multiplied by the fabric price, wastage included. Trims are added with 3% wastage, and accessories and packing with 2%. Then come washing, printing, the cost of making and testing. Commercial cost was added at 5% of the cost of making and transport at 3%, followed by a buying house commission of 7% and a profit of 10% of total cost, to reach a Free on Board price per dozen. Those percentages are that study’s figures, not ours; the estimator shows only the resulting shares. Send a tech pack or a reference garment and we will cost your style line by line.

Only if the price you enter includes them. The order cost estimator multiplies your quantity by that price; when we quote, prints, embroidery and washes are separate lines on top of the garment. One caution when you read the split shown for a t-shirt: the 2023 study it comes from, in the Journal of Textile Science and Technology, costed a tee that had a chest screen print and a silicone garment wash, and counted both inside its 30% of other costs, together with testing, commercial cost, transport, commission and profit. The study itself puts that share down to higher washing charges, against 19.8% for a woven shirt. So the last line of the split is not all margin, and it does not price your own decoration. Send the artwork with its size, position and number of colours, or describe the wash you want, and we will quote each as its own line.

Run the order cost estimator once for each style and add the totals yourself, because it prices one product at a time. Enter that style’s price per piece, total pieces and number of colours, note the estimate, then change the product and repeat. Do not pool the quantities: the minimum is checked per style and colour, so 1,500 t-shirts in one colour and 1,000 hoodies in two colours are three separate checks, of 1,500, 500 and 500 pieces. The t-shirts clear our 500-piece minimum, and each hoodie colour meets it exactly. What the estimator cannot show is where styles help each other: two styles cut from the same fabric in the same colour can share a dye lot, and one shipment spreads freight and clearance across everything in it. Send the full style list with quantities per colour in one message, and we will cost the range together.

The order cost estimator’s figure includes neither freight nor import duty, and it assumes no shipping term. It is the goods only: your quantity multiplied by the price you enter. The shipping term is stated on your quote, and we offer FOB, CIF and DDP. The percentages in the split do have a basis: the 2023 study they come from, in the Journal of Textile Science and Technology, took cost sheets for orders placed Free on Board, so the transport cost in them is the factory’s own and not the sea or air leg. To see a delivered cost, take a price per piece to the landed cost calculator and add your forwarder’s freight quote, insurance, the duty rate for your market and clearance. If you want one figure with everything in it, ask for a DDP quote and name the delivery address. Tell us the destination and the term you prefer in your first message.