# Pricing per stitch...need lots of opinions



## snice00 (Mar 4, 2010)

HI,

Could ya'll tell me what your prices are per 1000 stitches. Or how you even price.

I had heard that it was $1.00 per thousand stitches. Is this correct? I'm about to do a 21,000 stitch piece and offer it for sale with customization by adding names. So...I need to price it right...

Thanks for the input and showing me the industry standard for pricing.

Sara


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Custom Embroidery Retail Price Sheet - Atlas Embroidery


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## cookie99 (Jun 5, 2010)

I want to know too, it is really hard to price this with no help from others, many factor affect this, some hand works, designs, etc.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

It really depends on your market. 

We price by the job with no minimums. 

Consider these things. 

1: Time to embroider. A one color, no trim job at 2K stitches will take less time that a job with multiple trims and that will take less time than a job with multiple colors, all 2K stitches. 

2: Artwork. Do you have to send out the digitizing or can you do it yourself? 

3: Complexity of design. You can have an applique that uses 2K stitches or you can sew the spots that would have had the applique and use 10K stitches. I would charge more for the applique because it is more complex to do.

4: Value to customer. Applique has more value to your customer, they expect to pay more. 

5: Timeframe. If the customer can wait then you will probably charge him less than someone that wants it today. 

Hope this helps.


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## JAF (Oct 12, 2008)

snice00 said:


> HI,
> 
> Could ya'll tell me what your prices are per 1000 stitches. Or how you even price.
> 
> ...


I do find the $1.00 per K amusing. I started in business just over 13 yrs ago and it was $1.00 per K then. Don't you think that in 13 years the price per K would have changed?
So much enters into pricing. Knowning your costs/expenses is important.


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## dan-ann (Oct 25, 2007)

There is no way I would work for the prices shows on the Atlas site.They appear to be large shop with multiple heads so maybe they want to discount for large volume. I am a home based business with 3 heads. I tend to work more at the $1.50/1000 range. I am specialized and no one else has my designs which I had digitized. When I started out I was willing to work for less but not now.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Atlas is large but not the biggest out there....They have over 100 heads that run 4 shifts....Some embroidery work is just a commodity and you have to compete in the same space as Atlas......If you can fill niche that some else is not filling, you can get much higher prices.....


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I would say stitch count is not important. We do full jacket backs for $30 even if it is 90K stitches but we also charge as much as $600 for the same thing if it complex and on a high value item like a lether vest or jacket.

Just one of these jobs brought is what is now 60% of our business for lots of other things.


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

One thing about pricing by stitch count is that unless a customer has had their logo digitized before and they are giving you a digitized file they won't have any idea what their stitch count is (even then they may not know) so pricing that way can be confusing for customers. I consider market, running time (even though stitch count is high can machine time be fast, number of trims, color changes), hooping difficulty, niche business and turnaround time.


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## digitizewedo (Nov 2, 2010)

I used to do standardize rate for digitizing but found that customer want a $ per thousand stitches, I embroider in house our rate is $3. per 1000 stitches, I am not trying to compete with bargain digitizers. 

I am in Ontario Canada and I use DGML by Pulse 2009 Maestro. 

Frank Prokator
Embroidery Network
https://sites.google.com/site/embroiderynetwork/home


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

digitizewedo said:


> I used to do standardize rate for digitizing but found that customer want a $ per thousand stitches, I embroider in house our rate is $3. per 1000 stitches, I am not trying to compete with bargain digitizers.
> 
> I am in Ontario Canada and I use DGML by Pulse 2009 Maestro.
> 
> ...


I believe we're talking embroidery...not the digitizing.
Stitch count is important, if for nothing else..for the time it takes for the machine to complete the design. Also, If you are running a 1 head X needle machine, you pretty much have to charge more on a quantity of items. For example, if you are doing 24 caps on a 6 head machine, you can make more money by charging less per cap because you get the job done faster. Your time, the amount of your payments and other overhead will determine how much you want to charge "per hour of operation" Exercise...how many stitches can you complete in an hour? How many hours per day will you keep that going? Can you charge enough to take weekends and holidays off and take care of all the other things in your business and life? Can you hire qualified help, pay them a wage and still make a profit? Unless, your are running multiple heads, $1 is too cheap


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## stitch27 (Dec 1, 2010)

The following factors go hand in hand in determining the price
1) stitch counts - smaller stitch counts will mean that you spend more time in hooping then in embroidering
2)number of color changes in a design - you waste valuable machine time in trimming and needle changes as the machine stops / slows down/ restarts 
3) Design matters - Now this is tricky, A delicate design with blends and intricate details will take longer to embroiderer than a normal oval filled logo with a standard text font,
4) fabric matters - i would definitely charge more for embroidering on a stretchy fabric then a cotton twill or a regular polo shirt
5) Quantity is the most important factor here - embroidering 15 garments or 50 or 500 will definitely have a impact on the rates.

Hope this post was useful and would really appreciate any feedback

Regards
Tony
Welcome


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## JAF (Oct 12, 2008)

stitch27 said:


> The following factors go hand in hand in determining the price
> 1) stitch counts - smaller stitch counts will mean that you spend more time in hooping then in embroidering
> 2)number of color changes in a design - you waste valuable machine time in trimming and needle changes as the machine stops / slows down/ restarts
> 3) Design matters - Now this is tricky, A delicate design with blends and intricate details will take longer to embroiderer than a normal oval filled logo with a standard text font,
> ...


I have a 4 head and I prefer jobs around 5-7K. This gives one person time to hoop & trim before a run of shirts is finished. Because we only have a 4 head we really don't like big stitch counts. I find that the operator is sitting around too much and we don't make a lot on this type of job. Now, if I had a 12 head I would like that kind of job.

I charge more for sewing on Carhartt's, full backs, hard to hoop items, hidden embroidery pockets & duffle bags. In general I don't charge more to sew a logo a swim suit than on a polo. It's more the object than the material.


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## bungy (Aug 24, 2006)

Try this
Embroidery Cost Analysis & Pricing
Dowload the zip file at the top of article and enter your own costs and see what you should be charging.
then change some of the numbers and see what happens to the end price.


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