Clothing order cost estimator for Bangladesh

No. It is your quantity multiplied by the starting price we publish for a basic style in that category, which is the number a real quote starts from, not the number it ends at. 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 set a budget and to compare categories, then send a tech pack or a reference garment and we will reply within one working day with 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 1,500-piece order in three colours is 500 pieces per colour, which is below our 1,000-piece t-shirt minimum in the partner factories; the same 1,500 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 FOB 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 those shares to our starting price so you can see where the money goes. 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 partner factory, Collective Studio Ltd., makes, runs from 100 pieces per style and colour go to that factory, which prices them separately from the starting prices shown here; 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.