[LivingThread]

I understand some people have 30 employees, a 10,000 square foot production facility and a small business loan of $125k to repay. Thats not what im asking.


What is factored in for this example based on a 100 shirt order:

The cost of the garment to arrive at your shop.
$225 for 100 shirts shipped to my door. $2.25 per shirt.

The cost of the ink used on the garment.
example:
$50 for 1 gallon of white ink with print 500 full front and full back (print, flash, print) shirts. that works out to be $.10 per shirt. Add 10% for 5 seperate jobs which would need test prints so youre looking at $.11 per shirt.


The cost of the screen.
example:
$10 frame, you can use for 10 jobs at 100 shirts each before its lost its tension on a standard spot color job. So $1 per job divided by 100 shirts = $.01 per shirt

The cost of the emulsion.
example:
$75 a gallon and you can coat 75 20x24 screen = $1 a screen divided by 100 shirts = $.01 per shirt

The cost of the ink jet printers ink.
example:
printer ink is $30 for 100ml and you can print an average of 250 transparencies before needing to refill. $.12 per print. $.24 on this order. $.0024 per shirt.

The cost of the ink jet transparency.
example:
$85 for 100 transparencies shipped to my door $.85 per transparency. on a 100 shirt order $.0085 cents

The cost of tape.
$2 and the number of screen you can get is near 50? cost per shirt?

Clean up costs
The cost of ink wash.
$30 per gallon delivered. 20 trigger sprays? trigger sprays in a gallon? who knows? 1,000?

The cost of paper towels.
$2 and the number of screen you can get is near 12? cost per shirt?

The cost of emulsion remover.
$30 Per gallon delivered. 10 trigger sprays to reclaim screen. trigger sprays in a gallon? i dont know, 1,000?


Can someone offer some input on this and let me know if there are things being left out or if i did my math wrong?

I know some of you are already going to say things like "Yeah but if the guy has a lot of thick lines on the back deisgn it means more ink, more ink jet ink, more this and that" Im just going ball park here. This isnt an exact formulation. Just something Im trying to figure out for my own amusement.

Any input you have will be appreciated. And remember, Im not here to compare your overhead to my over head. If you have a bigger shop its a no brainer youre going to have higher costs to operate. Im just going on that pure basics.

 

[Optiq]

..... the elements are broken down nicely..... but it all depends on who you get what from and what you work out with them..... Some people may say "you're paying WAAAY to much for....." while others may say "You're getting ..... for only.....???? who do you order from?"..... but it's good to think like that.

 

[jayarrsteiner]

Wow that's an intense breakdown. Well done.

 

[alvin6661]

art work, films, your screens are low, how many colors, how many locations, color, brand and size of garment, shipping of the blank to you and shipping of finished garment out, taxes, etc...

 

[vil3nr0b]

Advertising, Marketing, and Website Costs.

 

[JAF]

I've always wondered what the cost is to produce shirts. You've created a nice list. You should factor in a labor cost to get a more accurate picture.

$2 for tape is cheap, what kind of tape do you use?
I don't use emulsion, I use cap film. So my cost would be higher.

 

[veedub3]

The emulsion cost...some coat 1/1, some coat 2/1, some 2/2, and some do it other ways. Case pricing on shirts. The case price where I get my shirts from is 72 pieces, so your first 72 shirts would have been cheaper than the last 28 pieces. Also I don't have my blanks shipped I pick them up. (10 mile drive round trip.)

This is a good break down for your situation but as previously posted by Optiq

it all depends on who you get what from

 

[IYFGraphics]

How about your labor costs, do you work for free?

 

[Optiq]

IYF made a good point that brought something to mind.... you said you're doing this just for fun... don't tell too many people that because that's how you get a bunch of cheapskates trying to get you to do a thousand shirts for free because you enjoy it so much they're giving you the opportunity to have a loooooooot of fun.... You might be doing it for fun now... but when you have people see what you do and want orders of shirts you're going to start thinking more seriously about it and when you give them a serious price they're going to look at you sideways, so don't doom yourself. As an artist I love what I do and have fun doing it.... but I have fun getting money as well, so have a blast!!!

 

[MotoskinGraphix]

Electrical, labor, marketing, building or space, equipment are all costs that factor in the total equation.

 

[LivingThread]

art work, films, your screens are low, how many colors, how many locations, color, brand and size of garment, shipping of the blank to you and shipping of finished garment out, taxes, etc...

You can go right now to ebay and get 12 20x24 110 mesh screens for $129 with free shipping. They are made by Pocono Screen Supply and are considered the best wood frame around. That works out to be $10.75 is you buy twelve. You can get them for less if youbuy more then twelve.


Cost+Shipping of 100 pieces of black G5000 t-shirts to me is approx $2.25 a shirt. Maybe you pay more for shipping, but $1.85 X 100 = $185 +$45 for shippign = $225 total price. $225/100=$2.25 per shirt delivered to my shop.

 

[LivingThread]

I've always wondered what the cost is to produce shirts. You've created a nice list. You should factor in a labor cost to get a more accurate picture.

$2 for tape is cheap, what kind of tape do you use?
I don't use emulsion, I use cap film. So my cost would be higher.

I use clear packing tape. Cheap stuff works best cause there isnt much adhesive left behind. I used to use the blue or red screen printing stuff that cost $3-$4 a roll (plus shipping) but even that left some adhesive behind on my aluminum frames. So then Im like "If i need to clean off glue for $3 a roll, why dont i clean off glue for $1 a roll?".

 

[LivingThread]

Advertising, Marketing, and Website Costs.

That was part of the all things being equal statement. Its hard to do a broad stroke on something like advertising when some people spend a lot more on it than others.

Same goes for a website. If you have an e-commerce site like T-shirthell, you will have a higher bill at the end of the month than someone who has a web site that just has contact info and pictures of past jobs.

 

[LivingThread]

The emulsion cost...some coat 1/1, some coat 2/1, some 2/2, and some do it other ways. Case pricing on shirts. The case price where I get my shirts from is 72 pieces, so your first 72 shirts would have been cheaper than the last 28 pieces. Also I don't have my blanks shipped I pick them up. (10 mile drive round trip.)

This is a good break down for your situation but as previously posted by Optiq

You can coat each screen 10x each if that makes you happy. Just figure out how many screens you can get out of a gallon pail of emulsion and you would have your cost of emulsion. Right?

You need to call the whoelsale company and tell them you want case pricing on everything. I get case pricing on everything I order no matter how many I order.


But for the purpose of this exercise, the garment itself is a huge variable. I went with a price of $2.25 for a g5000 because thats the price everyone will pay. If you pay more or less, so be it. But im sure 90% of the people printing shirts will pay $2.25 for a black g5000 shipped to their printing press.

 

[LivingThread]

IYF made a good point that brought something to mind.... you said you're doing this just for fun... don't tell too many people that because that's how you get a bunch of cheapskates trying to get you to do a thousand shirts for free because you enjoy it so much they're giving you the opportunity to have a loooooooot of fun.... You might be doing it for fun now... but when you have people see what you do and want orders of shirts you're going to start thinking more seriously about it and when you give them a serious price they're going to look at you sideways, so don't doom yourself. As an artist I love what I do and have fun doing it.... but I have fun getting money as well, so have a blast!!!

I meant I was doing this post just for fun

 

[taricp35]

You need to call the whoelsale company and tell them you want case pricing on everything. I get case pricing on everything I order no matter how many I order.

All vendors will not give you case pricing just because you asked them to. Out of the 4 local suppliers I use, only one gives me case pricing regardless of how many I order. I have only been purchasing from that vendor for 2 years and they extend that to me. The other 3 I have been with going on 5 years and if I want case pricing, I have to buy a case.

So don't just assume that all vendors will give you case pricing just because you ask them to.

 

[LivingThread]

All vendors will not give you case pricing just because you asked them to. Out of the 4 local suppliers I use, only one gives me case pricing regardless of how many I order. I have only been purchasing from that vendor for 2 years and they extend that to me. The other 3 I have been with going on 5 years and if I want case pricing, I have to buy a case.

So don't just assume that all vendors will give you case pricing just because you ask them to.

I use 3 very well known online suppliers. I also use one local company. They all give me case pricing on all my orders.

i'll send you a pm.

 

[taricp35]

I only use local suppliers in GA all well Known reputable company's so unless your company in Georgia it won't be necessary as I will not pay for shipping when all of the distribution centers are a 15 minute drive away.

 

[Optiq]

I meant I was doing this post just for fun

oooohhhhh.... ok then, I thought you meant silk screening for fun... people do do stuff like that if they have the means of purchasing everything so I thought that's what you meant..... never mind.... carry on

 

[LivingThread]

So can one of you guys who want to figure out labor or figure out how much electric you use to make one shirt go ahead and post up what you come up with? I mean, i did say all things being equal....but if you wanna try and figure it out then please do. Post up your labor rates and what not.

The idea was "the cost to make the shirt".


My mom said to me..."Can you make me some shirts for our church group?" I said sure, I'll do it at cost for your entire group.

Now im not talking about trying to figure out how much my mom needs to pay to cover the cost of my shop's rent. Im talking about flat out cost to make a shirt. Im not talking about the wear and tear on my press or the added cost of having them printed in the summer (when the air conditioning is on vs the winter when its not on). Im talking about the cost of the shirt + the consumables. Maybe some of you would still charge your mom, but im sure there is someone in the world that you would charge flat out cost.

Im not going to try and figure out that if i print 8,000 shirts a month and my total cost for my shop (rent, electric, water, web, insurance) is $900 that i need to ad $.11 to the cost of each shirt. Im not talking about how I paid $2,000 for a press in 2004 and now i need to add 7 cents to the cost of a shirt.

What is the flat out cost?

Using my first post, is there anything else im missing in terms of flat out cost?