Shirt Prices Mark Up?

[WesLor Designs]

I am new to the business and was wondering what everyone is charging for shirts? Say I bought a sweatshirt for a customer to embroider for $10.00 do I charge them the $10.00 plus the embrioder fee or do I charge more for the shirt plus the embroider fee and if I should charge more what is the going rate?

[Steve]

How many shirts are they getting? I have several prices depends on quantity ordered. The more they order, the less they pay per item.

[WesLor Designs]

Just one or two shirts at a time.

[Gabi Kat]

1 or 2 shirts - Retail, double the shirt/shipping cost + embroidery.
And in some cases a set-up fee may be in order.
Don't forget the digitizing fee if needed.

Then time the job, and double check what your hourly/min. costs are to see if you are making money, are at break even or paying the client for the privilage.

Happy Holidays
Gabi

[Steve]

1 or 2 shirts wont be cheap. Keep in mind you have to pay shipping (around $8 for 2 polos) Your time for picking out a style, taking the order, calling it in, making sure the colors are right when they show up. Additional costs for ordering a special color thread if you dont have it. As Gabi said, digitizing fees. You will probably spend 20-30 minutes before even putting the first shirt in the machine. How much is your time worth to you? This is why I have a minimum of 12 pieces but I know people who do one at a time and are happy doing it.

[signman]

You should make a profit of $40-$60 PER HOUR for your work-part of this would be your charge for embroidery, the rest is markup on the item. For small amounts (under a dozen for example) you take your cost of item (1 sweatshirt, + shipping) and DOUBLE that. Then your digitizing-did you just use stock design from the treasure chest and a name, or did you create the whole design? Creating a design is YOUR TIME. TIME= MONEY and you need to charge for it. Just to add a name on a shirt that someone brings in-(we didn't supply) we get $10.00. That's $5 for the name and $5 for the 'hooping charge' which covers the time and backing and thread for a small name. We try as hard as possible NOT to sew on 'customer supplied goods' because if you screw it up, you bought it...and couple months ago I had to 'buy' a half dozen crap shirts from discount store because the sewout was terrible. Sometimes you just can't get around it, but we've turned down several jobs since then-trying to stick to our 'own' supplies.
There are many links posted (in the archives here) to commercial companies that screenprint and embroidery-and the pricelists have been posted-so you can compare to see what the 'big guys' get for their services. But YOUR goal is to MAKE MONEY. Don't give your time away just because you don't think the customer will pay it!

[Steve]

Ever go a shopping mall and look at what embroiderers charge at a kiosk. Most are around $20-$25 for a cap because of the time they spend taking the order and setting it all up. Keep in mind they are ordering 50-100 caps at once and are pulling from stock.

[Gabi Kat]

Signman -
My policy when client brings in the blank, I am not responsible for bad sewouts. If the machine has it for lunch, I'm still paid for the embroidery. They need to supply additional pieces if they need a total number. This is because of the general lack of quality goods clients bring in thinking they are saving money. At this time I show them a sample of what I would supply/embroider with a cost that is generally within a few dollars of what they are spending. They usually return the product they bought and end up ordering shirts/emb'y from me.
If you can, have a couple of the "bad" exaples of previous client product to show your client along with the quality exmples your shop provides close to their final price point. It's a quick simple up sell and will keep your reputaion in good standing(and save you time in the long run). Cause you know - someone will see their poor quality shirt and ask where they got it. Your client will say your shop and that could be a bad thing for you. You won't be there to explain the client brought in the poor quality blank all you did was the best that could be done with the poor quality product.
Happy Holidays
Gabi