Key Takeaways
- Start from landed cost, not the catalog price.
- Price the decoration method you will actually run.
- Band your markup by quantity instead of using one multiplier.
Most shops price decorated apparel by feel, blank cost plus whatever feels fair. That works right up until a big order lands and the margin quietly disappears somewhere between the quote and the invoice.
The fix is a repeatable formula. Start from landed blank cost, add decoration at your real per-piece rate, then apply a markup band that reflects the run size rather than a flat multiplier.
True landed cost
Your blank cost is not the catalog price. It is the catalog price plus freight, minus the tier discount you actually qualify for at the quantity you are buying. On a 144-piece hoodie run at Nassau tier pricing, that gap alone can move your cost by several dollars a unit.
Write it down as one number, per piece, per style. If you cannot state it in a sentence, you do not have a price. You have a hunch.
If you cannot state your landed cost per piece in one sentence, you are not pricing. You are guessing.
Layer decoration honestly
Decoration is where margin quietly leaks. Screen printing carries setup costs that amortize across the run; DTF has none, but scales differently per piece. Price the method you will actually use, not the cheapest line on your rate sheet.
- Under 24 pieces: DTF almost always wins on total cost.
- 24–144 pieces: compare both; color count usually decides it.
- 144+ pieces: screen printing pulls ahead on simple designs.
Apply a banded markup
Flat multipliers punish large orders and undercharge small ones. Use a band: a higher multiple on samples and short runs, tapering as quantity climbs. Your customer gets a real volume incentive, and you keep a predictable margin at every tier.
Run the numbers once, save the sheet, and quote from it every time. Consistency is what makes wholesale pricing defensible when a buyer pushes back.
Skip the spreadsheet
We'll price your exact run today.
Send blanks, quantities and decoration method. You get tiered pricing back the same business day.
