Here’s the scoop: clothing companies rely entirely on the money from selling clothes to cover their costs— So, what exactly are these costs? And why are some clothes so expensive while others are so cheap?

First, let’s talk design.

Creating clothes involves either a solo designer juggling everything from research and material sourcing to sketches and technical drawings. Or there might be a whole team of experts including tech designers, creative directors, fashion forecasters, textile designers, assistants, assistants for the assistants, etc. For new or complex styles, there are multiple rounds of samples and revisions. This can take weeks. Or months. You'll need to change the fabric again. Who will be the fit model? Maybe you should get two or three fit models depending on your size range.

 

Once the patterns are finalized, it’s time to manage production.

This involves everything from finalizing fabric orders and trims, to tracking international shipments of bolts of fabric, and dealing with customs and duties. Someone has to handle the purchase orders for main fabric, contrast fabric, a second contrast fabric, lining fabric, pocketing, interfacing, closures like buttons, buttons stays, snaps, zippers, buckles, and elastic draw strings. Someone is even in charge of ordering those laundry care label instructions, the ones with the hieroglyphics on them. Not all the fabric will come from the same place, some of it will be in Asia, some in Europe, and some will come from the fabric supplier down the street. There will be a different timeline for each. You might need a special calendar app to manage this.

Then there's grading patterns for the size range. There is no button to push to automatically grade your patterns to different sizes, this must be done by hand. Some pattern graders don't do plus sizes or petites, so you need to hire another grader who specializes in extended sizing. The sewing factory will not want to produce more than four to five sizes for a small batch, so you'll need to make a spreadsheet to determine how many sizes you can actually afford to make since the factory requires you to order 3x as many units if you double the size range. 

Then someone needs to make the markers -not the kind kids use in art class- the kind that provide the guide for cutting the fabric. Then cutting the fabric, bundling, and don't forget the actual sewing of the garments. The fabric is often cut in one factory and then sewn in another one. Make sure it gets transported there without losing a bundle. And then, what should be done with the fabric waste? Should we let it go to the landfill, or spend more money trying to repurpose those scraps into scrunchies and other small accessories? Someone will need to make a cost-benefit spreadsheet to analyze that.

If you’re dealing with custom prints or embroidery, add those costs to the mix. And don’t forget about finishing touches: garments might need to be dyed, washed, pressed, and tagged before they’re ready to ship. Did you remember to order plastic bags for each garment? Don't forget to research biodegradable mailers and address labels and go down the rabbit hole of trying to determine which packaging has the least environmental impact. You might need to dedicate an entire blog post to explaining to your customers why you made the choices you did. 

Overhead

Customer service, returns, rent, utilities, security, and HR are all part of the equation. Even interns and janitors are part of the payroll, and let’s not forget to pay the accounting department that pays everyone else.

Wholesaling

Then, there’s the sales process. Sales reps, whether they’re on commission, salary, or a mix, need to be paid. They’re responsible for selling those samples, and their work is supported by promotional efforts like line sheets, lookbooks, commercials, billboards, trade show booths, showroom fees, and traveling costs.

All these expenses contribute to the wholesale price. And yes, retailers mark up their prices too. Because rent, insurance, taxes, employees, etc, etc, etc. And then there's shipping which most customers expect to be 'free', but has to get built into the price of the garment somehow.

Marketing

Marketing also plays a huge role—think social media campaigns, runway shows, and all the production that goes into creating eye-catching ads and content like models, photographers, videographers, hair and makeup stylists, runway set designers, sound guys, the guys who run around backstage yelling "go! go! go!" at the runways models, you get the idea. 

DTC

But what is you don't want to wholesale your line to retail store and you want to sell it direct to the consumer yourself. You'll need to set up a website, keep it updated, write weekly blogs with really great keywords like "long-sleeve black blouse", "long-sleeved formal black dress", and "dressy black pants" for proper search engine optimization. While you're at it, you should up your social media game, make sure you're on every platform and that each platform has a shop and a team of influencers promoting your line. You might need to pay for a platform to manage all your platforms. And you need free media coverage, so you should write up some press releases and maybe prepare a smattering of guest blog posts.

Fulfillment 

Since it's DTC you'll have to hold the inventory yourself, so it'll need to be shipped to a warehouse and you might want to invest in a 3PL company to handle fulfillment for you, but maybe you want to really manage quality control with fulfillment in which case you'll want to ship the inventory closer to you. Maybe so close that it's in your spare bedroom which will also be stocked with everything else you need like mailers, labels and the special thermal printer that prints the labels. And don't forget to drop it all off to be shipped on your way to rehearsal. 

Anything else??

No doubt we forgot a few things. Like getting someone to proofread this blog.

What was this blog post about anyway?

Oh yeah. Now that you have a clearer picture of what goes into producing a clothing line and why clothes can be so expensive, you might be asking yourself: how do clothes manage to be so cheap? Or other questions like, who would be crazy enough to try to start a line of concert clothes for musicians?

Share Your Style

Now, go forth and dazzle them with your unstoppable confidence and stunning stage presence! And don’t forget to share your favorite concert black looks by tagging us @Black.Strad for a chance to be featured and inspire others.