Hi guys,
Ive been lurking for a while, and have to say, this really is an invaluable site. Its extremely impressive how freely such rich information is shared. Kudos to all involved, and I hope soon to be able to impart some of my own experience - (just dont hold ur breath! ha)
SO - quick question guys. Im based in Ireland - and since most of you guys are in the states, Im wondering if im way off the mark with the pricing that ive worked out.
It breaks down thus:
Completely blank Tee (apart from size label) £2.60 per unit. (apx $5.18)
Screen printing and polybagging £3.35 per unit (apx $6.67) (2 colour front - 1 colour inside nape wash care data - 1 colour back print)
There will be other nicknacks like hang tags and screen origination costs to be taken into consideration- so lets say for arguments sake, that the end product per unit comes out at $13 or £6.53 -
Does this sound like a rediculous price per unit guys? Obviously were going to need a mark-up before going to retail (physical stores) and I guess what I'm asking, is would / do retailers pay £12 ($24) for a tee which they in turn need to mark up themselves? It sounds high to me, but I cant see any cheaper options here, unless we go into production on a massive scale, which were not prepared to do at this very early stage.
Obviously we could retail online at handsome markup and still be quite reasonable, but i think its important to score with some of the small hip independant retailers in order to engender some respect for, and curiosity about, the brand, which is what we are trying to develop.
Any thoughts, scorn, redicule etc welcome and greatly appreciated!
Hello sub, I've struggled with the question you are asking many times. For my t-shirt business (software engineer as my day job), I decided to start out online and then immediately expand to local independent shops in higher end areas. It sounds like our shirts are less involved than yours so we were able to bring the price down a bit based on our process. I'm not sure how you are printing but we found the most cost effective method to be custom heat transfers (then we buy our own heat press). The transfer are screen printed on special paper. This allows us to carry very little inventory and fill orders as an need-only basis. It also allows us to use some of the higher end shirts available (like American Apparel). I found that some online shops do charge $30+ for shirts and when it comes down to it, if someone really really likes a shirt, they will probably buy it no matter the price. In general though, I would say $30 is the top end that I would consider for a t-shirt (me personally as a shopper).
wow that s sounds kind of steep. What kind of blanks and polybags are you using? My cost after final product is about $7-8 dollars us. Hangtags, polybags, na dlittle nick nacks end up only changing the price a few cents (I order in large quantities). I want to retail my line at about $35 a shirt, so that means charging retailers about $17.50 which leaves me about a $7.00 profit per shirt. I am looking at finding better sources so I can get a little more profit, but if it's costing you $13.00 a shirt how much do you plan on selling them for?
Cheers for the response guys -
The blanks we're considering are from Continental, the only downside being the large minimums (150 per colour, per size). Its a fairly nice tee, used by a few rock bands as official merchandise; indeed thats how I came to know about them. Working Guerilla style and ordering smaller numbers from different outlets; our tees could cost as much as £4.50 before print! ($9) Any advice is welcome on this front guys, but alas ordering from America - were sure to get stuck for import duty and shipping, which nullifies any saving that can made.
I guess its only fair to consider that our clothing prolly retails a little dearer here anyway. I mean, most decent / design led tees retail here at around £20 - £24, ($48) so I guess in that respect the scales are fairly similar.
most retailers work on a 250% markup and don't forget about the VAT man.
If you would like to know more about the retail side of things call Mary at Pagan 091 569 767 as seen on "Off the Rails" (Irish fashion TV show for those outside of Ireland).
Pagan doesn't work on that markup but most retailers do. Sounds high but so is the rent, shop lifting, having to mark down stock that doesn't sell or your customers leave lipstick marks etc on.
Your price to retailers really depends on what your trying to do and who your selling to. If your going into competition with Penneys forget it. If your designs are good and the garments your printing on are good quality then you could be on a winner. Remember it's easy being cheap and everyone can do it but your always fighting against people wanting it cheaper.
If someone likes what you do then they will pay the price.
Bog Standard
Last edited by Solmu; August 16th, 2008 at 09:31 AM.
Reason: removed self-promotion
most retailers work on a 250% markup and don't forget about the VAT man.
I don't know if you mean by cost of goods or by end product. Here in the US the markup is usually around 50% of the ned product. So if you sell your shirts at $20 wholesale they expect to sell those shirts at $40 retail, plus tax. The cheapest price isn't always going to be your competition, if your designs are really good and you produce a quality product you will be successful. In my opinion is not good to try to chase the lowest buck. Consumers who are looking to buy the cheapest price arn't the best market becuause there is no loyalty and the competition is straight cuthroat for pennies. i say produce a great product with good quality and alot of people won't be concerned about the lowest price.
Basically, most screenprinters and pre-print wholesales will want to use cost-plus pricing in attempting to configure their wholesale price. Cost-plus is exactly how it sounds. You simply figure your total variable and fixed costs are then divide by the reciprocal of your desired markup. This is your selling price, i.e. Cost + Margin = Price.
If you are a retailer, you would be familiar with keystoning which refers to selling an item at double its cost to you or triple keystone, which is a price that is equal to three times the cost. The term originally came from the jewelry industry, but is today quite common in all of retail.
Many times a Mom and Pop, small retail shop will work with keystone in hopes of making a few sales here and there, but as a wholesaler you will want to eventually deal with larger wholesalers where the markup is triple keystone.
This means that your price can and probably should be based on volume ordering. The small retailer will order a smaller number of items and thus it will cost you more to produce them. The large retailer will order more and thus your cost is decreased and so will your price to the larger retailer.
It also means that your volume pricing must be one-third of what the large retailer will believe they can get for the item. If the item sells for $9.99 at J. C. Pennys then you must be able to get it to them at a price of $3.33 each. If it is a fashion item on a premium, high quality product and sell for $30, then a $10 cost would be in line.
A high quality T-shirt manufactured and printed in Mexico in volume can be sold to a large U.S. based retailer in the $2 range, which is then marked up to sell at $14.95 and then put on sale for $6 when the season ends. Everybody makes money!
Good to hear from someone in Ireland bog! and I agree with both yourself and Feilong on pricing; really what were trying to do is create a premium brand anyway; so Im not concerned in the slightest about our tees selling cheaply - in fact Id advocate a high retail price, given that the garment and everything would be as we envisage at the moment. I was just worried that our Irish print charges would make the tee too dear for retailers in the first place, and particularly since you tell me retail mark up is 250%, (I was expecting 100% apx) I fear that really might be the case - Hence trying to check out India.
Yeh, Ive spoke to continental on a number of occassions, and know the score with their stock tee, Bog. I was just worried about their branded washcare conflicting with the bespoke image we had in mind. Of course, they can do total blanks, but the miminums are steep for a startup. Ive made contact in India, today and am awaiting samples. Ill see how that goes, but I'll take your advice on board; particulary as I really like the Continental product. Any futher advice you have on India would be greatly appreciated Bog.
Acceptable price to retailers? 
