01
Cost the materials at what you actually paid
Cloth, lining, interfacing, buttons and thread, at the price on your merchant invoice, not the price you remember from last season.
Most UK studios quote from habit. A jacket is what a jacket has always been, a hem is a round number, and the price holds until cloth moves or a job takes twice the hours it should. The studio only learns which garments paid when the quarter closes, by which time the pricing has already happened.
The method, plainly
02
Put a real rate on your own hours
Count cutting, fitting and finishing separately. An alteration that needs two fittings is not the same job as one that needs none, and it should not carry the same price.
03
Carry the overheads into every garment
Rent, machines, insurance and the hours nobody pays for. Spread across the garments you actually make in a month, they belong in the price of each one.
04
Set the margin before you quote, not after
Decide the margin the studio needs, then let the price follow from the cost. Quoting first and hoping the margin survives is how a busy year still ends flat.
Alterations are where this bites hardest. They feel small, they are quoted quickly, and a shop can run a full book of them and still be behind at the end of the month.
TexoIQ was built so the price comes out of the cost, in your own currency, before the cloth is cut.
Common questions
What margin should a UK tailoring studio aim for
That is a decision for the studio rather than a rule. What matters is that the margin is chosen in advance and carried into every quote, so it is not left to chance.
Should alterations be priced by the job or by the hour
By the work involved. Two fittings and a lining replacement is a different job from a hem, and a single flat price hides which one is paying.
How often should prices be reviewed
Whenever material costs move. A price set against last season is a price set against costs you no longer pay.