What does it cost to manufacture a t-shirt? A cost breakdown for brands

“How much does it cost to make a t-shirt?” is the first question most brands ask, and the honest answer is that it depends on a handful of decisions you control. A t-shirt’s price is built from parts. Once you know the parts and what drives each one, you can compare quotes fairly, see where a saving is real, and spot a price that cannot be.

This guide explains the method. For the full sheet, line by line, see our costing sheet explained; the numbers below come from the same illustrative example and are not a quote.

What goes into the cost of a t-shirt?

A t-shirt’s factory price is built from seven lines: fabric, trims, cut-make-trim (CMT, the sewing labour), packing, the factory’s overhead and margin, and any decoration, which is quoted separately. Fabric is the largest single line. Freight, insurance, import duty and clearance then turn that factory price into your landed cost.

Our worked example for a 180 gsm combed-cotton tee comes to an ex-factory price of about US$3.10–3.30, and our duty comparison chart uses US$3.20 as its example. Treat both as illustrations of the maths. Your exact price is sent to you personally, against your spec.

Why is fabric the biggest cost in a t-shirt?

Fabric is the largest single line on a knit costing sheet, and it grows with fabric weight (GSM), yarn quality and how much fabric each garment uses. In our illustrative 180 gsm example it comes to about 0.22 kg at US$6.20 per kg, roughly US$1.36; the same tee at 240 gsm needs about US$1.82.

How is fabric priced at the mill?

We are a cut-and-sew factory: we buy finished fabric, knitted to your spec, from established mills. The fabric price per kilo is built at the mill, and it bundles several steps:

• Yarn. Cotton or blend, the yarn count, and whether it is combed or carded, ring-spun or open-end. Better yarn costs more and shows in hand-feel, print surface and pilling. The yarn guide.
• Knitting. The construction (single jersey, rib, interlock) and the density needed to reach your GSM.
• Dyeing and finishing. Colour depth, special finishes such as enzyme washing, and compacting to control shrinkage.
• Minimums and freight. Mills price per colour lot, and the fabric has to reach the factory.

You choose the source: our regular mills, OEKO-TEX-certified fabric, or a mill you nominate. We confirm the mill and its country before you order.

How is fabric consumption worked out?

The factory needs to know how many kilos of fabric each garment uses. A rough check, for an illustrative adult size M with a 72 cm body length, 52 cm half chest and 22 cm sleeve:

At 180 gsm, 1.0 m² weighs about 180 g. Add an allowance for cutting waste and fabric ends (we used 15% for this sketch; the real figure depends on the marker) and the neck rib, and you arrive at roughly 0.22 kg. Our Optitex CAD marker gives the real consumption for your pattern and size split.

Multiply by the fabric price: 0.22 kg × US$6.20 per kg is about US$1.36 in our example. The same tee at 240 gsm needs about 0.29 kg, or roughly US$1.82 at the same fabric price. That is the honest cost of “heavyweight”, before any change in yarn. How to choose and specify GSM.

Oversized and boxy fits add fabric too, because the pieces are bigger. A drop-shoulder tee in 240 gsm can move the fabric line more than any negotiation over margin.

What does cut, make and trim (CMT) cover?

CMT is the labour: cutting, sewing, finishing and inspection, costed as the minutes a garment takes multiplied by what a minute of the line costs. On a plain tee it is a smaller line than fabric, so squeezing it rarely saves much. What adds minutes:

• Extra operations: back-neck tape, a shoulder-to-shoulder tape, side seams, pockets, a split hem.
• Fiddly details: a narrow rib, contrast binding, a tagless print alongside a sewn label.
• Short runs and many colours, because every changeover costs set-up time.

A factory that cuts minutes below what the construction needs usually cuts corners in stitching and inspection.

How much do trims, packing and decoration add?

Labels, tags and packaging are small lines that add up. A woven neck label costs more than a printed one, and individual polybags with size stickers cost more than bulk packing. Put your full trim and packing list in the tech pack so every factory prices the same thing. Private-label trims and packaging.

Decoration is a separate line, priced per placement and depending on the method, colours and size. We arrange print and embroidery through trusted partner decorators near Gaindakot and coordinate them within your lead time. Choosing a print method.

How do quantity and colour count change the price per piece?

Setup costs are much the same for 1,000 pieces as for 5,000: the pattern, the marker, the sample round, the fabric order. Larger runs spread them thinner. Fabric is bought per colour, so three colours of 1,000 pieces cost more per piece than one colour of 3,000. Our minimum is 200 pieces per style and colour, with at least 1,000 pieces in total per order, so a new customer can start with a trial order and scale from there. Keeping a first order lean.

Why do factory quotes differ for the same t-shirt?

Usually because they are not quoting the same t-shirt. Fabric weight and yarn, fit, trims, packing, decoration, quantity per colour and the Incoterm all change the price, so two quotes can be far apart and both honest. Fix one written spec, send it to every factory, and before comparing check they share:

• The same fabric: composition, GSM with a tolerance, yarn, compacting.
• The same fit and measurements, from one tech pack.
• The same trims, labels, packing and decoration.
• The same quantity per style and colour.
• The same Incoterm. A price EXW Gaindakot excludes the inland leg; FOB Kolkata covers the goods loaded on board at Kolkata; FCA Kathmandu is for air. Incoterms explained.

Then sanity-check each quote from the bottom up: consumption × a plausible fabric price sets a floor no real garment can beat. The same test on a hoodie.

What is landed cost, and why does it matter more than the factory price?

Your real cost is the landed cost: factory price, plus freight and insurance, plus import duty, plus clearance and delivery. Duty is where the country of origin changes the answer: two suppliers with the same FOB price can land at very different costs.

The EU and UK charge 12% third-country duty on cotton knit t-shirts, and Canada 18%. Nepal-made t-shirts enter at 0% under the EU’s Everything But Arms arrangement, the UK’s DCTS and Canada’s Least Developed Country Tariff, provided the goods meet the scheme’s origin rules and the paperwork is in order.

An illustration, using our chart’s defaults for the EU or UK, where duty is charged on the CIF value:

On 1,000 tees that is about US$414 of duty that stays in your margin. Not every origin pays 12%: Bangladesh also enters at 0%, and some origins have free-trade agreements with conditions. Our duty comparison chart shows the rates by origin, and the duty-free guide explains the origin rules. Confirm your commodity code with your customs broker.

How do you get an exact price for your t-shirt?

The only accurate cost is a quote against your written spec. The figures in this guide illustrate the maths and are not a quote; our export team prices your t-shirt line by line and sends the price to you personally. Send us:

• Fabric: composition, GSM and any yarn preference.
• Your tech pack or a reference garment, with sizes and your size split.
• Quantity per style and colour.
• Labels, packing and any decoration, with artwork.
• Your destination and preferred Incoterm.

We quote line by line, and our export team sends the price to you personally. If you want to feel the fabric first, our sample kit includes finished garments and a swatch card marked with each weight. Send us your spec.