What should it cost to make?
Choose a garment, a quantity, and a country to see a price range and the arithmetic behind it, before you talk to anyone.
$11.11 to $16.77per unit, FOB
$5,555 to $8,385 for the run, within about 20%. Before freight and duty.
The same garment, other countries
What this assumes
- Fabric: 320gsm French terry, assumed.
- Cutting and sewing loss: 14%.
- Labor: Vietnam sewing rates.
- Sewing time: 30 standard minutes for a pullover hoodie.
- Quantity: small run at 500 units.
- Excludes sampling, tooling, freight, and duty. FOB at the factory door.
This is a model, not a quote. It is built from published cost averages, and it is roughly what a good sourcing manager would sketch on the back of an envelope.
Inside StitchGrid the same estimate learns from the quotes your own factories send back, so it gets closer to your real costs with every order.
01How it works
No black box
A garment's cost comes down to four things, and none of them is a secret.
Fabric
The finished garment weight multiplied by the mill price per kilo, plus whatever the cutting table wastes.
Cut, make, trim
The standard sewing minutes for the style, multiplied by what a minute of sewing costs in that country.
Trims and finishing
Labels, closures, packaging, and any printing, embroidery, or washing the style needs.
Overhead and quantity
The factory's margin, plus the premium a short run carries, since setup costs the same either way.
Cost tables reviewed 2026-09. Each range is honest about what the model does not know, narrowing when you name the fabric weight and widening when you leave the country open. For styles it cannot price reliably, such as insulated outerwear or leather, the model declines rather than guesses.
02Next
An estimate is where sourcing begins
The number above tells you whether a project is worth pursuing. Getting it made is our part.