Fabric cost
What is fabric cost and consumption in garment making?
Fabric consumption is defined as average meter(s) (or Kgs for knits) of fabric required to make the garment. Generally fabric consumption is calculated using following steps -- Pattern master develops patterns for the garment with seam margin.
- Garment patterns are then placed on the fabric laid flat on the table as close as possible to each other.
- Linear length of fabric that is covered by the patterns is measured (for woven fabric). This measured length is the consumption of the garment. Wastage percentage is added on it to get average consumption.
If there is large uncovered space with the measured length then double marker is used instead of single marker to maximize accuracy of garment consumption. Now-a-days most of the garment manufacturers use CAD systems to determine fabric consumption.
For basic products such as Tee shirt, fabric consumption can be estimated from the garment specification (measurement sheet). Read earlier post "How to measure fabric consumption of knitted garment?" to know details about calculation procedure.
To determine fabric cost for the garment, first fabric consumption is calculated as above. Secondly, merchant collects fabric quotes (prices) from fabric suppliers. For woven fabric - fabric price is presented per meter and for knits price is presented per Kg. Once you have fabric price list and average fabric consumption use following formula to determine fabric cost per garment.
Fabric cost per garment = Fabric consumption X Fabric price
To know more how merchants calculate fabric and other material cost read our earlier article "How to calculate raw material cost for garment?"
How to Calculate Raw Material Cost for Garments?
Steps used for material costing estimation are –
- Preparation of material requirement sheet
- Material price listing
- Preparation of material cost sheet
Prepare material requirement sheet
List down all items required and calculate consumption per unit for all materials to be used in garments.
For an example, let you are going calculate material cost for a polo shirt. To make polo you need knitted fabric – Single jersey/pique, cuff and collar rib. Sourcing of knitted fabric can be done three ways
- You can directly purchased dyed fabric or
- You can source yarn, knit fabric and process the knitted fabric as per your requirement or
- Purchase dyed yarn and knit.
Let you will purchase yarn and get knitting and dyeing processes done by job workers. To go through this process collect the pricing list of different types of yarn (or at least for the yarn that you will purchase for your product), knitting cost, knitting loss%, dyeing cost per kg and process loss% from suppliers.
Material Price listing
Collect material price quote for all the material you need to purchase from different vendors. Prepare database for the current market price of raw materials.
For example here is one Price List
Yarn: The costs for different yarns are –
20s Combed – Rs.105/kg
30s Combed – Rs. 115/kg
50s Combed – Rs.140-145/kg
2/60s Combed – Rs.200/Kg
2/60s dyed yarn – Rs.420/Kg dark shade
Knitting cost:
For Single Jersey – Rs.15/kg
For Rib - Rs.18/kg
For Interlock - Rs. 30-35/kg
Knitting loss: 2%
Dyeing cost: Rs. 80/kg for dark shades
Process loss (Dyeing): 6%
Fabric cost: Ready to use fabric cost is calculated using basic calculation as shown in the following table. Cost of the knits fabric is represented in price per Kg.
|
|
Shell Fabric
|
Collar/Cuff
|
|
Fabric Description
|
2/60s single jersey
|
2/60s rib
|
|
Yarn cost (Rs.)
|
200.00
|
200.00
|
|
Knitting cost (Rs.)
|
18.00
|
20.00
|
|
Knitting loss (2%)
|
4.36
|
4.40
|
|
Processing cost (Dyeing) (Rs.)
|
80.00
|
80.00
|
|
Processing loss (6%) (Rs.)
|
18.14
|
18.26
|
|
Cost per Kg
|
Rs. 320.50
|
Rs. 322.66
|
Fabric Consumption: Next step is to find requirement of fabric for the polo. Suppose for this polo shirt you need shell fabric 0.32 Kg and Ribs for cuff and collar 0.080 Kg. Read how to calculate fabric consumption for a knitted garment to know fabric consumption calculation.
Prepare material Cost Sheet
Once you find fabric cost and fabric consumption prepare material cost sheet including all other material required to make a garment ready for sale. An example of material cost sheet has been shown below.
|
|
Items
|
Consumption
|
UOM*
|
Rate (Rs.)
|
Amount (Rs.)
|
Remarks
|
|
1
|
2/60s single jersey
|
0.32
|
KGs
|
320.5
|
102.56
|
|
|
2
|
Cuff and collar ribs
|
0.08
|
KGs
|
322.66
|
25.81
|
|
|
3
|
Sewing thread
|
159
|
Meters
|
|
4
|
approx.
|
|
4
|
Buttons
|
3
|
Gross
|
|
2
|
approx.
|
|
5
|
Main label
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
1
|
approx.
|
|
6
|
Care label
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
1
|
approx.
|
|
7
|
Hang Tags
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
3
|
approx.
|
|
8
|
Price Tags
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
2
|
approx.
|
|
9
|
Poly bags
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
1
|
approx.
|
|
10
|
Kimble
|
1
|
Unit
|
|
0.5
|
approx.
|
|
|
Total Cost
|
|
|
|
142.87
|
|
*UOM - Unit of measure
So, Total fabric cost is Rs. 128.37 and including other material costs total cost of the material for making this Polo Rs. 142.87
Now for each item merchants generally purchased extra quantity of inventory (from 2% to 7%) as buffer. This excess cost due to extra purchase of material is added into the garment costing.