Embroidery pricing calculator

How this embroidery pricing calculator works

Embroidery is usually priced by stitch count, because the number of stitches sets how long the machine runs. The calculator builds a price per piece from three parts. It works in any currency: enter pounds or dollars and the answer comes back in the same.

• Garment: the garment cost each, plus your markup percentage.
• Embroidery: the stitch count divided by 1,000, times your rate per 1,000 stitches, or your minimum per piece, whichever is higher.
• Digitising: your one-time digitising fee, divided by the number of pieces.

The price per piece is garment plus embroidery plus digitising. The job total is that price times the number of pieces. The minimum per piece makes sure a small logo still pays for hooping, trimming and handling, which take about the same time whatever the stitch count.

Worked example: the default job

The calculator opens with 24 polos at 8.00 each, a 7,000 stitch logo, a rate of 0.90 per 1,000 stitches, a minimum of 5.00 per piece, a digitising fee of 40 and a 60% markup.

Worked example: a small logo

Now the logo is a simple 3,000 stitch design. At 0.90 per 1,000 stitches that is only 2.70, which is below the minimum, so the minimum of 5.00 applies.

Worked example: a repeat order

The same customer reorders 24 polos with the original 7,000 stitch logo. The design is already digitised, so enter 0 for digitising. The price per piece drops to 12.80 + 6.30 = 19.10, and the job total to 458.40. Not charging digitising again on a reorder is fair, and it gives customers a reason to come back to you.

Estimating stitch count before digitising

You often need to quote before the logo is digitised. Stitch count depends mostly on the size of the design and how much of it is filled. Solid fills use far more stitches than outlines and text. A small left chest logo often lands in the low thousands of stitches, while a large back design can run to tens of thousands. If you are unsure, quote from a similar design you have sewn before, then confirm once the file is digitised and the true count is known.

Choosing your own figures

• Rate per 1,000 stitches: base it on your machine time per hour, the number of heads, labour, thread, backing and overheads.
• Minimum per piece: cover hooping, trimming, checking and handling for even the smallest logo.
• Digitising fee: cover your own time or your digitising service's fee. Many shops charge more for large or complex designs.
• Markup: cover ordering, receiving, spoiled pieces and the money tied up until the customer pays.

What this calculator leaves out

• Quantity breaks. In practice the rate per 1,000 stitches often falls as quantity rises.
• More than one logo position. Price each extra position as its own stitch count and add it.
• Caps, 3D puff, metallic threads and hard-to-hoop items, which usually cost more.
• Names under logos, delivery, rush jobs and VAT or sales tax.

Tips for pricing embroidery

• Build a grid of stitch-count bands against quantities so every quote is consistent.
• Keep each digitised file with the customer's record, and note the size and thread colours.
• Send a sew-out photo or proof before a large run.
• Recheck your rate when thread, backing or wage costs change.

From calculator to real quotes

In Dyenzo, quotes price from your own stitch-count grids, with the digitising fee charged once per design and not again on repeat orders. Dyenzo reads DST and EXP files and measures the stitch count and size from the file itself.