[gapipkin]

I don't understand the business of marking up the garments in embroidery. Is it to make the stitch price less? Why not just make the apparel at cost, and keep the price per 1,000 what you want? That way if a customer wants to supply their own garments, you don't have to worry about a markup. Its how I price my screen printing. The only time I markup the garment is if it's more difficult to print on, like zip jackets and stuff.
I understand including shipping, and loss of cash being included in the price. But why make a $3.50 hat $7? Instead of charging $.50 per 1k, charge $1.50 per 1k.

Help me understand.
-Greg

 

[Blue92]

So if I bring in my own hat you would charge me the same as if I bought the hat from you?

 

[gapipkin]

You bring me a $10 hat, i'd still charge you $20 for the embroidery either way. If I get the hat for $5, I'd charge you $5 and $20 for the embroidery. Somebody else might charge you $10 for the hat and $15 for the embroidery. Either way its $25 out the door.

 

[tippy]

When I go into a store to buy things, I assume they have added a markup - that's how they make money. If I buy a t-shirt from Walmart that isn't embroidered, I don't expect them to sell it to me for their cost plus shipping.

 

[krikster]

I don't understand the business of marking up the garments in embroidery. Is it to make the stitch price less? Why not just make the apparel at cost, and keep the price per 1,000 what you want? That way if a customer wants to supply their own garments, you don't have to worry about a markup. Its how I price my screen printing. The only time I markup the garment is if it's more difficult to print on, like zip jackets and stuff.
I understand including shipping, and loss of cash being included in the price. But why make a $3.50 hat $7? Instead of charging $.50 per 1k, charge $1.50 per 1k.

Help me understand.
-Greg

If you do not make 50% on pretty much everything then you are not going to survive in business long.

 

[gapipkin]

I don't think you guys understand... I'm saying instead of marking up the garments, make your cost per 1,000 more instead. Walmart isn't embellishing my garments.

 

[krikster]

I don't think you guys understand... I'm saying instead of marking up the garments, make your cost per 1,000 more instead. Walmart isn't embellishing my garments.

You are talking about 6, 1/2 dozen or the other....It is easier to keep track of your earnings if you mark everything up. That way you can tell when you need to raise your prices faster.

 

[binki]

It is not illegal or immoral to make money. Charge the most you can.

 

[DancingBay]

The profit from the apparel is where we make most of our money. The embroidery is secondary. I charge a little more when people bring in a sweatshirt that they bought down the road, but not much. I do a lot of customer supplied onsie twosie monogram / name drop items, but I really get excited when someone wants a dozen or more of something with all the same logo on it.

Also, a lot of companies have a minimum price you can sell for. I have accounts with Charles River and JPC. Both will remove your account if they catch you selling below their minimum mark-up. And let me tell you, they scour the internet looking for people who sell for below the minimum, and a lot of competitors who will turn you in in a heart beat. JPC is horse tack which I also sell, but still same concept. Say wholesale is $50 and retail is $100 for a bridle. I am not allowed to sell it for less than $90. Same with Charles River. Wholesale for a rain jacket is $27, retail is $55. They've set the minimum for selling this jacket at $47.

 

[beanie357]

Because people price the per thousand.
Never heard of your format working long term.
We run 16 heads and need the garment markup on retail.
Contract is different.

 

[chuckh]

Anything on which you incur a cost should be marked up, either separately or built into your selling price. If you are not trying to make money on your money, then it sounds like you have a hobby and not a business.

 

[LTPEMB]

Because making money on embroidery alone is so incredibly difficult. You become a pure contract embroiderer when you do that and there is no point in being a retail business or selling a nicer shirt over a cheap shirt off the floor. And for instance carhart jackets are extremely expensive and 10x harder to embroider than anything else why would i even bother trying to sell them if i don't make more money on it than a polo tshirt.

That and due to the prevelence of contract embroiders who willl charge as low as $0.10 per 1000 stitches just to keep the machines running just to stay in business (and can quickly go under if they dont get the contracts) and people on the internet using that same method of thinking litterally charge cost of the garment + cost of contract work, add $60 plus the drop ship into the price, drop ship it to a contract place I made $60 on this order of 6 for 30 minutes of work, oh next order for 6000 drop ship to contract embroider of cost, I made $60 for 30 minutes of work.

My pricing mentality is I price embroidery at 5-10% markup of my hourly cost based on run time (stitches + trims + and changeover times run through a calculator). Where I make enough money to stay in business and pay myself, pay for a car and feed myself is on the markup of the garment.

I know embroiderers who branched out into screenprinting and they swear up and down that it is 100x more profitable to be a screenprinter with an automatic than to have an army of 60 embroidery heads because the prevalence of embroidery contract bidding has driven prices insanely low for how much time is involved. Or 4imprint charging the same amount of money for a 5000 stitch logo as they do on a 25000 stitch logo.

Essentially to stay in business and to appear competitive you cover your costs with embroidery, you make a profit by selling apparel, and you don't do customer provided items.

at least that is how I have to.

 

[TH Apparel]

I add 20% onto the cost of each garment(give or take depending on the customer and garment). This helps in the rare case a machine eats a shirt or two, I can replace the garment without losing money. Or if I want to order a couple extras to keep as samples.

 

[rklovestruck]

We charge a slight markup on ordering blanks for decoration for clients. We use it to cover our costs if something scraps. For instance we order enough garments to receive FREE shipping daily from our suppliers. If a customer brings in their own garment there is a big chance that they paid shipping. If something scraps when we print their garment, then we will credit back their printing but they either have to buy another garment or we won't be able to complete the order. If you order through us and we scrap, we automatically reorder the garment but of course we don't charge THEM for another garment. We eat that cost since our machine messed up. So really the mark up makes us a little money but really it covers our butts for any mistakes.

Oops exactly what TH Apparel said.

 

[Dekzion]

Have to mark up. one small example, someone likes a polo and wants a small logo subbed on the pocket, time allotted for the logo ten minutes start to finish, if I charge a fiver for the logo thats great, £30 per hour, but it's still a fiver in the till, If I sell them the shirt at cost I've made nothing more and my markup consists of £1.50 on the paper and ink minus electric and lighting for that job, if you take into account the coffee at the time someone's on a losing streak.
Always buy well, analyse the costs of materials, factor in your time and always make a minimum of 100% or things can get depressing quickly
supplied shirts logo's are never less than a tenner vinyl or sub, and if they need a logo worked on its £30 per hour design time. and there's no come back on their shirt if it burns. (I charge double for second hand shirts)

 

[Ripcord]

My price includes the shirt and the print. It's quoted as one figure. The garment price is marked up and if the customer wants to bring his own garments (which I accept only rarely) I deduct exactly what I would have paid for them wholesale. Suddenly the great 2 for $10 deal he got at Walmart doesn't seem all that great. This is a good way to demonstrate to a parsimonious customer that he can't save money by buying the shirts himself.

 

[treefox2118]

I don't mark up my garments at all for any form of design application.

If a customer wants to bring his own garments, that's fine, but I charge them for the time to drop them off, and I also charge them to wash and press each garment so I don't put up with any problems, wrinkles, etc.

Most customers like that I break down my pricing to show them the cost of the garment, and the only time someone brings me garments is when it's a brand I don't sell. If they drop ship from a premium vendor, I don't wash or press and don't charge anything on the garment side.

Actually, customers drop shipping me garments saves me a lot of time and headaches so I figure it's a win.

 

[BidsMaven]

If you do not make 50% on pretty much everything then you are not going to survive in business long.

I so agree with you, Kirk.

 

[Bugmeister]

Is this garment markup unique to embroidery? Pricing guides I've seen for deciding wholesale/retail prices of things like vinyl and heat transfer shirts have been "cost-of-shirt" + "cost-of-transfer" + "overhead percentage" + "labour" + "profit".

I haven't seen mention of the profit number being broken down to the point of item markup such as garments, so I'm curious if this practice is more general or specific.

 

[jeron]

If I get the hat for $5, I'd charge you $5 and $20 for the embroidery. Somebody else might charge you $10 for the hat and $15 for the embroidery. Either way its $25 out the door.

The OP is really just charging more for the imprint instead of adding markup to the garment.