Most tailoring shops don't set prices — they inherit them, from the shop next door or from what customers "usually pay". The result is India's most skilled underpaid profession. Pricing from your own costs upward, rather than downward from a guess, is what turns stitching from a favour into a business.
Underpricing is the most common tailoring mistake in India. The cost-plus method for setting stitching charges, pricing extras, and building a rate card that sticks.
Step 1: Know Your Cost per Garment
Add the labour time (yours or your stitcher's per-piece rate), trims used (thread, lining, hooks, zip), and a share of monthly overheads (rent, power, machine upkeep divided by your monthly garment count). That total is your floor — any price below it means you pay to stitch.
Step 2: Add Margin by Order Type
Daily wear carries standard margin; designer and occasion work carries more, because you sell judgement, not just stitching; bridal carries the most, because you sell certainty on the most important date on the calendar. Same shop, three margins — that is normal and correct.
Owners who charge one flat rate across every order type are almost always underpricing their premium work and overpricing their simplest jobs — tiering the margin by order type fixes both problems at once.
Step 3: Price the Extras — All of Them
Lining, piping, cups, doris and latkans, buttons covered in fabric, urgent delivery, home trial. Each gets a line and a price. Extras are where "friendly" shops silently give away a stitcher's monthly wage.
Step 4: Publish the Rate Card
A printed and WhatsApp-able rate card does three jobs: it ends bargaining-from-zero, it makes staff quote consistently, and it makes annual revisions official rather than personal. Revise once a year, openly — costs rise, and a 10% revision announced beats a 30% one apologised for.
Step 5: Make Every Bill Match the Card
Pricing discipline dies at the counter when bills are scribbled from memory. In Juvee, every garment type and extra carries its rate, so bills, advances and balances calculate themselves — the rate card becomes what customers are actually charged, every single time.
Key Takeaways
- Price from your real cost per garment upward — never from a neighbour's guess downward.
- Tier your margin by order type: daily wear, designer, and bridal each deserve a different margin.
- Every extra — lining, piping, urgent delivery — needs its own line and price.
- A published, WhatsApp-able rate card ends bargaining and keeps staff quoting consistently.
- Annual, announced revisions beat sudden large price jumps.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate fair stitching charges?
Add your labour time cost, trims used, and a share of monthly overheads per garment — that total is your floor price, before adding margin by order type.
Should I charge the same rate for all types of stitching?
No — daily wear, designer/occasion work and bridal wear each justify a different margin because they demand different skill, risk and certainty.
How often should a tailoring rate card be revised?
Once a year, openly announced — a small, expected revision is easier for customers to accept than a large, sudden one.
Where Juvee Fits
Bill exactly what your rate card says. Juvee is India's first AI-integrated tailoring software — itemised GST billing, advances and balances handled automatically. Free tier available; 14-day free trial. Start Free Trial →
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