Cost is the financial value acquired by the resources which are used to prepare a product. Costing is the method of estimating and then evaluating the total cost of producing a product or garment, together with the cost of raw materials, the ornamentation or embroidery done on it, labour charges, marketing and transportation, as well as the general expenses of operating the business. Merchandisers should have a thorough knowledge of costing.
Since embroidery is mostly done for garments, the cost of the garment must be kept in mind, which depends on
(i) Fabric
(ii) Trimmings
(iii) Garment design
(iv) Surface Embellishments: printing, embroidery, appliqué, etc.
(v) Cost of Transportation
(vi) Production time
(vii) Labor
(viii) Estimated profit of the manufacturing organization
All the costing depends upon parameters which are unique and fluctuate often. Finally, the finished products are labelled with its cost and are checked with buyer’s specifications.
Key factors that directly affect embroidery costing, are
(a) Quantity of embroidery work
It is a key point, which affects embroidery costing to a great extent. Every embroiderer should accurately know the quantity of work to be done in an article, otherwise embroidery takes more cost. Before fixing the cost of embroidery, the quantity of embroidery should be evaluated. This includes considering where would the embroidery be placed on the fabric, how many times it will be repeated, is it a big-sized embroidery or a smaller one, etc.
(b) Completion time
Time plays an important role in fixing embroidery cost. Different types of embroidery take different time to complete, which directly affects embroidery costing.
(c) Quality of raw materials
Embroidery is produced by using various types of thread and other raw material. The cost of raw materials may not always be the same at all places. Also, bulk purchase of raw material is likely to be cheaper. That affects the cost of embroidery too. If we use expensive raw materials, embroidery cost increases and vice versa. For example, metallic and silk embroidery threads are costlier than cotton thread work.
(d) Nature of embroidery
It is another important point which should be kept in mind during the costing of embroidered fabric. Each embroidery type needs different amount of costing i.e. the cost of chain stitch embroidery is not the same as that of zardozi work. This is because the raw material used in zardozi includes the use of dabka, stones, thread as well as chain, compared to chain stitch.
(e) Nature of workmanship
Costing is greatly dependent on the workmanship. Intricate work needs heavily skilled craftsmanship, more time, and more efforts of the worker whereas a regular article can be produced by using lesser efforts in less time.
(f) Customer’s specification
Sometimes costing of any work depends on the customer’s requirements. Just as in the garment industry, the customer’s specifications are of importance, similarly in an embroidery unit too.
