Many people cannot afford to shop for new clothes and must turn to cheaper alternatives. One such alternative, sweatpants, can be found in many stores and is fairly inexpensive compared to other types of pants.
However, the cost of making a pair of sweatpants varies greatly depending on several factors. This article will discuss those factors and give you an idea how much it costs to make a pair of sweatpants, both wholesale and retail.
Before getting started with learning about the costs associated with making a pair of sweatpants it would be helpful to know what we mean by wholesale price vs retail price. A wholesale price is what the maker or supplier charges for each item sold. The retailer takes the responsibility of marking down or increasing prices as they see fit.
A retail price is what a store charges you for an item once they have bought it from the wholesale company. This is usually much higher than the wholesale price.
The next factor to take into consideration when learning about how much it costs to make a pair of sweatpants is material.
Table of Contents
There are three key factors that affect the cost of materials:
1) Fabric Type
A cheap fabric may be lightweight or flimsy, not lined well, or poorly made. A designer would only want to use premium fabrics because they can last longer and look better after multiple uses. The more expensive the fabric used in making your pants, the more it will cost because of increased quality. To determine if you paying too much for fabric always check the material content of an item before buying it. To do this you can check the tags on clothing, go online and search for your item’s materials, or search for an up-close picture of the fabric.
2) Number of Pockets
The cheaper styles usually only have one pocket or no pockets at all to cut costs. While designer styles may have multiple pockets like back-pockets, side-pockets, flapped front pockets etc., which increases cost because more time is needed to make each pair. The number of pockets also effects how much fabric need be purchased so if a store is trying to sell pants with fewer pockets at a higher price this could be why. Another reason pants are sold without extra pockets is so that they can be easily customized to best fit the client.
3) Customization
Customizations like cuffed hems, monograms, and embellishments like rhinestones will change the cost of materials for each pair created. However, customizations are usually offered as free or for a small fee with an order over a certain amount because the store wants you to buy more items from them which increases their revenue.
The last factor that effects how much making a pair of sweatpants costs is labor. Labor expenses include fabric cutting, pattern design and creation, sewing altogether, labeling etc. If labor is involved in the process, then it will increase your final price too.
Since there are many different ways to cheaply make a pair of sweatpants, a store would probably sell their product for a slightly higher price if it is designed by a top designer. As seen here, the original retail price on this item was $140 but now appears to be sold out.
The same pant made from cheaper fabrics and standard pockets would cost less, perhaps only around $25 without customization, but may also wear down quickly. So, it’s important to know what you’re paying for and ask yourself how often you plan to use your purchase and whether or not you will pay more for better quality items that last longer.
It is not clear exactly how much it costs to make a pair of sweatpants because there are so many variables that affect cost and each retailer sets their own price. The most common way to determine the price for a good or service is to find what it would cost if you had to buy it yourself at wholesale prices.
If we were to assume $25 as an average wholesale cost, by adding 20% for material, 37% for labor and 40% of overhead costs such as space rental, taxes etc., we get $49 as the average complete retail price. This already includes the money needed to cover all other expenses like shipping costs and item giveaways; we can assume these would be passed onto customers too if they didn’t come with the product originally.
Conclusion
Based on this information alone we can conclude that making a pair of sweatpants will probably not be profitable for a store unless they are selling their items wholesale or are able to sell an item at retail price for at least $75.
If you want better quality than the cheaper option then it will definitely cost more, but if you’re only looking to buy something cheap then go with the cheaper option because after all, one is paying for labor and material anyway.
