The two lines that decide the total
How much does it cost to start a clothing brand? The answer is set by two of the lines below and barely moved by the other fifteen.
Patternmaking. Either a few hundred paid once to a pattern maker, or zero if you draft it yourself or generate it, or — the expensive version — free from the factory, which usually means they own it and moving production means paying for a new one. This line ranges from nothing to the largest single cost before production.
The minimum order quantity. Fifty units at €12 is €600. Three hundred units at €9 is €2,700. The better unit price is the worse first order, and this is where first brands most often over-commit. MOQ is set by the arrangement, not negotiated at the end.
Everything below moves the total by tens or low hundreds. Those two move it by thousands.
Before production
| Line | Range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Reference garment to measure | €20–60 | Buy the fit you want and measure it. Cheapest research on the list. |
| Pattern, base size | €0–500 | Drafted by you, generated, or paid. Unusual construction costs more. |
| Grading, per size | €30–80 / size | Often quoted per size step. Five sizes is five charges. |
| Tech pack, if outsourced | €150–600 | Zero if you write it. The template is free. |
| Fabric for sampling | €30–120 | Minimum cut lengths, often 3–10 m, plus shipping from the mill. |
| Sample, first round | €60–250 | Higher for fleece and for anything with a hood or a placket. |
| Sample, second round | €60–250 | Budget for it. One round is optimistic. |
| Print or embroidery setup | €30–150 | Per screen for print, per digitised file for embroidery. Three inks is three screens. |
Production, per unit
| Line | Range per unit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric | €3–12 | Consumption × price/kg. A 180 g/m² tee uses roughly 0.25 kg; a 350 g/m² hoodie around 0.7. |
| Cut, make, trim | €4–15 | A tee is at the bottom, a hoodie with a lined hood near the top. |
| Rib for neck and cuffs | €0.30–1.50 | Separate fabric, separate row. And it needs its own spec. |
| Print or embroidery | €1–5 | Per placement. Multiple placements multiply. |
| Labels: brand, size, care | €0.20–1.20 | Printed is cheap. Woven carries its own minimums, often thousands. |
| Polybag and packing | €0.10–0.50 | Add a folding spec or you'll get theirs. |
| Freight and duty | €0.50–4 | Weight-driven — the one place GSM directly costs money. |
The lines people forget
- Fabric minimums. A mill's minimum is often 50–100 kg per colour, which can be more fabric than your garment order needs. You buy the roll, not the metres.
- The second sample. Always. See above.
- Woven label minimums. Thousands of pieces is common. Printed labels on the first run.
- Shipping the fabric to the factory if you source it separately. Fabric is heavy.
- Sizes you can't sell. A full size run means owning the tails. Middle sizes first.
- Storage. Three hundred hoodies occupy real space for real months.
Two worked shapes
Minimum viable, private label, 50 tees, one colour, one print. No pattern (theirs), no grading, one sample round, printed labels. The whole thing lands in the high hundreds to low thousands, and the largest lines are the units themselves and the print setup. You learn about selling; you learn nothing about patternmaking, and you can't move the garment elsewhere.
Cut and sew, 100 hoodies, one colour, own pattern. Pattern and grade, two sample rounds, fabric at a mill minimum, CMT at 100 units, embroidery, printed labels, freight. Comfortably into four figures before the first unit sells, and the fabric minimum is often the surprise. What you get is a garment that's yours, in a pattern you can take to a second factory.
Our view: the second shape is worth the extra money the moment you intend to make the same garment twice. If you're testing whether anyone wants it at all, the first shape is the cheaper experiment and there's no shame in it.
The cheapest money you'll spend: the reference garment in gate one. Twenty to sixty euros for a garment whose fit you already know works, measured properly, removes the largest source of error in the entire chain. How to measure it.
The order to do all this in · choosing an arrangement · what Clothix costs · weight and cost · all guides