What a Jeans Costing Sheet Is For
A jeans costing sheet is a line-by-line calculation of what a factory needs to charge to make a particular pair. It is not a price list. It belongs to one style, one fabric, one wash and one quantity, and it changes when any of those change. For the buyer it has three jobs: to explain a quote, to show where savings are possible and to allow a fair comparison between suppliers.
If you want the wider picture of what a pair costs and why, the guide to how much it costs to manufacture jeans covers the cost drivers. This page concentrates on the sheet itself, how to read it and what to ask.
A good sheet is transparent but short. If a supplier quotes a single number and refuses to break it down, you cannot learn anything from it. If a sheet has dozens of lines with no totals, it may be hiding more than it shows. Ask for the main groups below and request detail on the largest ones.
The Anatomy of a Garment Costing Sheet
Every garment costing sheet for denim follows a similar order. The names vary, but the groups are consistent.
Notice what the sheet does not include: your own costs. Design, samples, agent fees, marketing, returns and finance are outside the factory's calculation. A complete view of your margin needs those too, which is why the guide on pricing clothing for wholesale and retail is a useful companion.
Fabric Consumption: The Line to Check First
Denim consumption per pair is usually the biggest lever on the sheet. It is the number of metres of fabric the pair uses once cut, plus an allowance for wastage. The figure depends on the fit, the size, the fabric width and how efficiently the pattern pieces are laid out in the marker.
A wide-leg pair uses more than a slim pair. A fabric with narrow cuttable width uses more than a wider one. Directional fabrics, such as those with a nap or slub, cannot be flipped in the marker, which also raises consumption. The factory should state its consumption for a base size and explain how the figure is built. Ask for the marker efficiency, which is the percentage of fabric actually used by pattern pieces, and the width on which the calculation is based.
When you compare quotes, confirm they use the same width and weight. The effect of weight and fabric choice on price is described in the denim fabric weight guide, and fabric quoting is covered in how to find denim fabric suppliers. Fabric minimums also affect the sheet: see denim fabric MOQ for how a minimum can raise the effective price if surplus metres are charged to you.
A Worked Example of a Costing Sheet
The table below shows an illustrative FOB sheet for a mid-weight stretch straight jean. The figures are examples to demonstrate how a sheet is built and are not quotes or market prices.
| Line | Basis | Cost per pair (illustrative) |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric | 1.45 m plus 6% wastage = 1.54 m at £3.60 per m | £5.54 |
| Pocketing and interlining | Standard cotton or blend pocketing | £0.35 |
| Thread | Main, topstitch and bar-tack thread | £0.18 |
| Zip, button and rivets | Metal zip, shank button, rivets | £0.58 |
| Labels, patch and hangtag | Main label, care label, back patch, hangtag | £0.40 |
| Packing | Polybag, carton share | £0.22 |
| CMT | Cutting, sewing, finishing | £2.10 |
| Wash and finish | Mid-blue wash with light whiskering | £1.30 |
| Testing and QC allowance | Lab test share and inspection | £0.15 |
| Overheads and margin | Factory profit and overhead | £0.90 |
| FOB total | £11.72 | |
| Freight, duty, clearance | Allowance per pair, route dependent | £1.40 |
| Landed cost | £13.12 |
- Fabric47%
- Trims and packing15%
- CMT18%
- Wash and finish11%
- Testing, overheads, margin9%
The example shows a typical pattern: fabric and CMT dominate, wash is a meaningful but variable line, and trims are smaller individually but add up. The FOB price for jeans is the total up to the point where the goods are loaded at the port of departure. The landed cost of jeans adds the costs of getting them to you. Our guide to CMT versus FOB explains the difference between pricing methods.
Working Back from a Target Cost
Experienced buyers rarely start from the factory's number. They start from the price at which they need to sell and work backwards. This gives a target cost for jeans: the most the pair can cost landed while still delivering your margin.
For illustration, suppose you aim for a wholesale price of £30.00 and need a markup multiple of 2.5 between landed cost and wholesale. Your target landed cost is £12.00. The example sheet above reaches £13.12, a gap of £1.12 a pair. That gap is the work to be done: a change in fabric, wash, trims or construction, a different quantity, or a revised price. Seeing it on one sheet turns an argument into a list of options.
Questions That Test a Costing Sheet
- What fabric width and consumption does the figure assume, and for which size?
- What is the wastage allowance, and is it applied to trims as well?
- Which trims are included, from which supplier, and at what spec?
- Is the CMT rate based on the number of operations or a flat figure?
- Which wash recipe is priced, and does it include any hand finishing?
- Are testing, inspection and packing included or extra?
- What quantity and size run does the sheet assume?
- How long is the price valid, and what triggers a revision?
The most useful question is often what the quote assumes. Quotes are conditional on fabric price, exchange rates, wash complexity and quantity. If any of those moves, the price moves. Our guide to the jeans tech pack shows how to specify construction details so that quotes are based on the same product.
Levers That Reduce Cost
Not every saving is equal. Some reduce the quality the customer sees; others do not. The table rates common levers by how much they typically save and how much they risk the product.
Washing is often the first target because it is variable and visible. A simpler wash or a laser-based alternative can change both cost and time; see laser and ozone denim finishing. Trims are the next place to look, and denim trims and hardware explains which components carry cost and which are cosmetic.
Quantity helps, but be careful: a larger order lowers some costs only if you can sell it. For smaller brands, the better approach is often to combine styles on one fabric and keep the first order modest. See private label jeans: how to launch for range planning.
Testing the Sheet: What Happens When One Line Moves
A costing sheet becomes more useful once you test it. Change one line at a time and see what happens to the total. This is called sensitivity testing, and it takes ten minutes in a spreadsheet.
Using the illustrative sheet above, imagine the fabric price rises by 10 per cent from £3.60 to £3.96 per metre. At 1.54 m per pair, fabric rises by about £0.55, so the FOB moves from £11.72 to roughly £12.27 and landed cost to about £13.67. The wash line is smaller, so even a 20 per cent rise there adds only about £0.26. This tells you where to concentrate: a small change in fabric price or consumption matters far more than a similar change in thread or packing.
Now imagine a marker improvement that cuts consumption from 1.45 m to 1.40 m before wastage. At the same fabric price, that saves roughly £0.19 per pair, or about £115 across 600 pairs. These are illustrative sums, yet they show why a factory with strong pattern and marker skills is worth more than a small difference in labour rate.
Test quantity in the same way. Ask the factory to price two or three quantity breaks, for example the minimum, one and a half times the minimum and double the minimum. A large saving at a higher quantity may tempt you to over-order, so compare it with your realistic sell-through. The guide to testing and scaling a clothing line explains why starting modestly is often the safer route.
Keeping the Sheet Current
A costing sheet is a living document. It should be reissued whenever the specification, quantity or fabric price changes, and every version should carry a date and a reference to the sample or tech pack it relates to. Without that discipline, a quote agreed in March can be argued over in June because nobody remembers which wash or trim it assumed.
Keep three versions side by side: the factory's quote, your own estimate and the final agreed price after sampling. Differences between them are lessons for the next style. If the final price is higher than the first quote, find out which line moved and why. If a supplier is consistently close to your estimate, that is a sign of a reliable partner. A habit of comparing the sheet with the purchase order and later with the invoice closes the loop and keeps surprises out of the margin.
Common Mistakes When Reading a Costing Sheet
- Treating FOB as the final cost. Freight, duty, clearance, testing and rejects come on top.
- Comparing sheets with different consumption. A lower fabric price with higher consumption can cost more.
- Ignoring wash differences. Two quotes for the same style may price different washes.
- Squeezing every line. A supplier pushed below viable margins may cut corners elsewhere. Check where the saving comes from.
- Forgetting exchange rates. Quotes in another currency move with it; agree who bears the risk.
- Not updating the sheet. When a spec changes, the sheet must change with it.
A Jeans Costing Sheet with Ruhrose
Ruhrose develops and manufactures denim in Bangladesh with UK buyer support. During development we can talk you through fabric, trim and wash choices and how each affects the costing sheet, so the first quote is based on the product you actually want. Production starts from 500 pieces per style and colour.
If you are building your first sheet, start with the clothing manufacturing cost guide and then share your tech pack, target price and quantities. Start a product enquiry and we will outline a costing sheet with you, line by line, so you can judge each decision. For the route question, see also how to buy wholesale jeans.