Most people planning a first collection budget for the garments and are surprised by everything else. The garment cost is usually the most predictable line in the whole thing. The lines around it are what cause the shortfall.
This is what a first collection actually costs, and where the money tends to go missing.
Before you order anything
Design and technical development. Turning a reference image into something a factory can make means a tech pack: measurements, construction details, materials, trims, tolerances. Whether you do this yourself, hire a freelancer, or have your production partner do it, it costs either money or several weeks of your time.
Sampling. This is where first-time budgets are most often wrong.
A sample is quoted and paid for per sample. It costs meaningfully more than a production unit, because it is a one-off made by hand from a small piece of fabric. Two or three rounds per style before the fit and the finish are right is normal, not a sign that anything went wrong.
Budget for three rounds. If you only need two, you are ahead. Sample costs are generally not credited against the production order, so treat them as development spend rather than a deposit.
A pre-production sample. The final sample made from production fabric on the production line, which is the one you approve as the standard for the run. Some partners include one with the production deposit.
The production order
Minimums. Most manufacturers quote a minimum per style, often across two colourways. A common figure is 200 units per style. This is the number that decides whether your budget is a hobby budget or a business budget, and it is worth confirming before you fall in love with a nine-style range.
The practical implication: a three-style collection at 200 units each is 600 garments. That is your first cheque, and it is the reason most first collections are three or four styles rather than twelve.
Fabric. Often ordered separately and often ahead of production, especially if it is being knitted or dyed for you. On natural fibres this can be a large share of the unit cost.
Deposit. Typically fifty percent up front, balance before shipping. Plan the cash flow around both dates, not just the first.
The lines people forget
Labels, hangtags and packaging. Small per unit, real in aggregate, and they carry their own minimums. A thousand labels is a normal minimum order, so a four-style range with three colourways can mean several separate label orders.
Freight and duty. Depends entirely on the shipping terms, and the terms decide who pays. A quote that looks competitive can lose that advantage at the border. Ask which terms the quote assumes.
Compliance and testing. Depends on your market and your product. Care labelling requirements differ between the EU, the UK and the US.
Everything after the garments arrive. Photography, a website, packaging for direct shipping, a returns process. None of it is production and all of it is required before you can sell anything.
Where the money is actually lost
Not in the unit price. In three places:
Too many styles. Nine styles at minimum quantity is a large amount of stock, and a first collection is a test of what sells. Three or four styles gets you the same learning for a fraction of the capital, and it leaves cash for the second run when you know what to make more of.
Sampling rounds that go on. Each round costs money and about two to three weeks. The most effective way to reduce them is to be specific up front: not "slightly looser," but "add two centimetres at the chest, keep the sleeve." Vague feedback is expensive feedback.
Unsold inventory. The largest cost by far and the one that never appears in a budget. A collection where a third of the units do not sell has lost more money than any negotiation could have saved.
The timeline, which is also a cost
A first collection typically takes eight to sixteen weeks from the first conversation to freight arriving. Eight is fast. Twelve to sixteen is normal.
Production itself is usually four to eight weeks of that. The rest is development, sampling, and waiting for materials. Anyone quoting six weeks total for a first collection is describing the production window and leaving out everything before it.
That timeline is a cost because it is capital committed with no revenue against it.
What a realistic first budget looks like
Not a number, because it moves enormously by category, fibre and quantity. But a shape:
Development and sampling is a fixed cost you pay whether you make 200 units or 2,000.
Production is the largest single line and the most predictable.
Components, freight and duty add a layer on top of the unit price that first-timers routinely underestimate.
Everything after arrival is often as large as the production cost itself.
A budget that only covers production is roughly half a real budget. That is the single most useful thing to know before you start.
Tirarin takes a collection from a first reference image to delivered freight, one team, one standard. See how the process works, or read the FAQ for minimums, lead times and what the guarantee covers.
