Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Price per piece
$13.33
Cost per piece
$7.33
Total quote to client
$800.00
Total gross profit
$360.00
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One click, a permanent link with your numbers baked in.
How to use this
- 1Enter blank garment cost ($).
- 2Enter decoration cost per piece ($).
- 3Enter flat setup fee ($).
- 4Enter order quantity.
- 5Enter target gross margin (%).
- 6Read your price per piece on the right — it updates as you type.
- 7Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Most decorated apparel quotes need to combine a blank garment cost, one decoration method's cost (screen print, embroidery, DTF, or DTG — entered as a flat estimated cost per piece from your own process calculators), a flat order-level setup fee, and a markup, into a single number a client can approve. This calculator is intentionally generic across decoration methods so you can use your own per-piece decoration cost (from the more detailed screen print, embroidery, or DTF calculators in this collection) as an input, then see the full client-facing quote with setup spread across quantity and your target margin applied. It's the final assembly step most shops do manually in a spreadsheet, and getting the markup right here is what separates a break-even job from a profitable one — apparel decorators commonly target 40-55% gross margin on the fully decorated piece after all production costs, though rush jobs and small runs justify pushing that higher to compensate for disruption to the shop schedule.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Blank garment cost: 3.5 $
- Decoration cost per piece: 3 $
- Flat setup fee: 50 $
- Order quantity: 60
- Target gross margin: 45 %
Results
- Price per piece: $13.33
- Cost per piece: $7.33
- Total quote to client: $800.00
- Total gross profit: $360.00
What each field means
Inputs
- Blank garment cost ($)
- The blank garment cost used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 3.5 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Decoration cost per piece ($)
- The decoration cost per piece used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 3 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Flat setup fee ($)
- The flat setup fee used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 50 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Order quantity
- The order quantity used in the calculation. Starts at 60 so you have a working example on load.
- Target gross margin (%)
- The target gross margin used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 45 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–90 %.
Results
- Price per piece
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Cost per piece
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total quote to client
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total gross profit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Should I quote margin-based pricing or markup-based pricing?
Margin-based (price = cost ÷ (1 − margin%)) guarantees you hit a specific percentage of revenue as profit, while markup-based (price = cost × multiple) is simpler but yields a lower actual margin than the multiple suggests. Most experienced shop owners use margin-based math to hit revenue targets reliably.
What margin should rush jobs carry?
Adding 15-25 percentage points of margin on rush jobs (48-72 hour turnaround) is standard practice, since rush work disrupts scheduled production, may require overtime labor, and increases error risk from working fast.
How do I handle mixed decoration methods on one order?
Calculate a blended decoration cost per piece (weighted average across the sizes/methods used) before entering it here, or run separate quotes per sub-group and sum them for the client-facing total.
Does setup fee visibility to the client matter?
Some shops itemize it so clients understand why small orders cost more per piece; others fold it in for simplicity. Itemizing tends to reduce client pushback on reorders, since they see the setup fee waived or reduced and understand why.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Apparel Decoration Quote Builder. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/apparel-decoration-quote
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/apparel-decoration-quote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apparel Decoration Quote Builder — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Apparel Decoration Quote Builder — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/apparel-decoration-quote) (2026).