A factory quote is rarely just one number. Behind the unit price sit fabric, trims, labour, overhead, testing, packing, freight, and duty. If you only compare the final price, you cannot tell whether a quote is efficient, under-specified, or missing a cost that will appear later. This guide breaks a garment quote into its parts, with questions that help you compare like with like.
The main cost blocks
1. Fabric
Fabric is usually the largest single cost. A quote should state the fabric composition, weight, width, supplier or origin if relevant, and the consumption per garment including cutting loss. A cheaper quote that uses a lighter fabric, a narrower width, or a lower consumption allowance is not the same garment.
Ask: What is the fabric price per metre or yard, what consumption is assumed, and what happens if the fabric price moves before bulk cutting?
2. Trims and accessories
Buttons, zips, labels, hangtags, thread, elastic, and packaging are individually small, but together they matter — especially on a detailed garment. Check whether the quote includes branded trims, special finishes, and spare buttons or labels where your standard requires them.
Ask: Are trims buyer-supplied, factory-supplied, or split? Who pays for trim development and mould charges?
3. CMT: cut, make, and trim
CMT is the factory’s charge for cutting the fabric, sewing the garment, and finishing it. It reflects labour time, skill, line efficiency, and factory overhead. A complex garment with many operations, topstitching, or hand finishing will have a higher CMT than a simple tee, even in the same fabric.
Ask: Is CMT quoted per piece or per dozen? Does it include pressing, quality checking, and packing, or are those separate?
4. Testing, compliance, and overhead
Reputable factories build in costs for in-line and final inspection, lab testing where required, compliance work, and factory overhead. If a quote has no allowance for testing or quality control, ask how those requirements will be met — and who will pay when they are needed.
5. Packing, freight, and duty
Finally, check what the price actually covers. A factory-gate price and a delivered price are different products. Confirm the Incoterm or delivery term, whether freight and insurance are included, and whether duty, brokerage, or local delivery are in the number you are comparing.
An illustrative breakdown
The figures below are illustrative only, for a simple woven shirt, to show how the parts add up. They are not market prices.
- Fabric: $4.20
- Trims and packaging: $0.85
- CMT: $2.40
- Testing, inspection, and factory overhead: $0.55
- Factory margin: $0.60
- Illustrative factory-gate total: $8.60
Freight, insurance, and duty would then sit on top of that total, depending on the delivery term. The value of this exercise is not the total, but the comparison: if another quote is $7.80, you can ask which line moved — fabric, CMT, testing, or margin — instead of guessing.
Five questions to ask before you accept
- Which fabric, trim, and measurement specifications does this price assume?
- What is included in CMT, and what is charged separately?
- How many samples, revisions, and inspections are included?
- What changes the price: fabric price movement, order quantity, size ratio, or delivery date?
- What is not included, and what will be invoiced later?
Red flags in a low quote
A quote that is far below the others deserves a second look, not an immediate order. Common causes include a lighter or substitute fabric, missing trims, no testing allowance, an optimistic consumption figure, or a delivery term that excludes freight and duty. None of these is automatically dishonest, but each one changes what you are buying.
A good quote is easy to audit. When every major line is visible, a buyer can negotiate the right thing — a better fabric, a simpler trim, a larger order — instead of pushing the total down and hoping quality survives. That is the difference between a cheap garment and a well-costed one.
