One number is four numbers.
"How much does it cost to produce a clothing line" has no single answer because it is not a single cost. It is four costs that behave differently. Design is fixed per style: it buys the pattern, the tech pack, and the costed bill of materials, and it is paid once, because reorders reuse the same documents. Sampling is per iteration: a first sample plus one or two fit revisions is normal, and a founder who scopes the capsule before sampling pays for two cycles where an unscoped one pays for four. Production is per unit and falls as units rise, because cutting, threading, and setup amortize across the run. Embellishment is the only cost with no ceiling, because it is bought by the hour of handwork, and a motif can absorb twenty hours or five hundred.
Two totals matter more than any line item. The first is cost to first approved sample, which is what it takes to find out whether your garment works: design plus two sampling cycles, roughly $4,200 to $5,900 for one style on our card. The second is landed cost per unit: production plus packaging plus freight and duties, divided by real units. Brands fail on the second number, not the first, usually by ordering too many colorways too early.
What each stage costs, by category.
Design and tech pack.
From $2,500 per style. Pattern drafted and graded, measurement spec with tolerances, costed BOM, construction callouts. The document is yours whether or not you produce with us, and reorders never pay it again. Full anatomy in the tech pack guide.
Sampling, per iteration.
From $850 per cycle: cut, sewn, finished, photographed, shipped for your approval. Two cycles is the median for a scoped style; four is common for an unscoped one. The cheapest sampling round is the one you prevented with a decided design.
Production, per unit.
Streetwear and jersey from $75. Swimwear and lingerie from $85. Dresses from $220. Hand-canvassed tailoring from $850. Five-unit minimum per style per colorway; unit prices step down at 25, 50, and 100 units as setup amortizes.
Couture, from $3,200.
Built one at a time, by appointment: hand-canvassing, hand-finished hems, fittings on the form. $3,200 buys the construction base. Everything visible on top of the cloth is embellishment, and embellishment is priced by the hand.
Embellishment, by the hour.
A beaded motif of focused coverage absorbs 60 to 150 hours. Full-surface embroidery runs 200 to 450. A museum-grade showpiece can pass 600. Materials ride on top: crystal grade alone moves a garment's material bill by a factor of three to five. The full technique-by-technique breakdown lives in the embellishment service page.
Packaging and freight.
Branded packaging from $1,000, set by manufacturer minimums, not ours. Fulfilment from Paris at $6 to $22 per parcel by destination. Duties belong in your landed cost from day one; they are not a surprise, they are a line item.
Where first collections waste money.
Sampling before scoping.
Each "let's just try it" revision is a full cycle. Decide the capsule on paper, then sample. The difference is routinely four figures per style.
Too many colorways.
Every colorway is a separate five-unit minimum, separate fabric minimums, separate inventory risk. Launch in one or two; reorder the winners, since reorders carry no design fee.
Fabrics that cannot be resourced.
A dead-stock fabric is a one-run fabric. Beautiful for a drop, fatal for a bestseller. Decide which game each style is playing before the mill order. The full map of mills, minimums, and working prices per meter is in the fabric sourcing guide.
Packaging at launch scale.
Boxes have minimums in the thousands. A first drop of 50 units does not need custom rigid boxes; it needs a garment that earns the second order.
Ignoring landed cost.
Unit price is not what the garment costs you. Unit plus pack plus freight plus duty is. Price your retail from the second number and margin survives customs.