Lately we have been talking a lot about the price of things. The price of fashion pieces, the price of a t-shirt, the price of a dress, in short, the price of things. Why ? Because it's important. When we talk about ethic and values we have to talk about the price. It's normal. At Made & Made we receive all kinds of comments regarding the price: either people say « Oh that's not expensive at all ! » or they say « That's quite expensive, not everyone can afford it». Through this article, I would like to provide an answer to those two comments. I would like to provide simple information about the price of things, in short, what is the cost of a t-shirt.
How do we define the price of an object ? How much does the manufacture cost ?
Defining a price may seem complicated and obscure at first sight, however it's really simple.
Imagine you have to estimate the price of an apple pie : you have to include the price of the ingredients, the amount of apples/flour/baking powder/cinnamon/sugar/butter.
Then you have to count the human time needed to cook the pie : preparing the right amount of ingredients, kneading into a dough, counting the apples, loading the oven. Don't forget to also count the electricity needed for the cooking.
Finally if you want to sell your apple pie to your neighbours, apart from the fact that the pie is really delicious, you have to convince them that your pie is REALLY delicious and that's the best pie ever. Then you will have to put the pie inside a pretty box and deliver it to them.
In the fashion industry, it is just the same.
The recipe to create a t-shirt :
To create a t-shirt you will need : fabrics, wool, buttons, zippers, sizes labels, hand tags.
You need a good preparation of the recipe in a wide bowl of fashion design required for the creation. After that you can add the pattern design, the gradation, the fabric-cutting and finally the sewing work. Experienced seamstress sew the clothes and the labels. Then they add some finishing touches (buttons, zippers, etc).
Your recipe is not over yet ! When your amazing t-shirt is made, you have to sell it to your neighbours. The best way to do it is to put your t-shirt in storage (online or not). Don't forget that a physical store generates costs : rent, charges, assurances, sales staff. An online shop also generates costs : web hosting, web developpment, order preparation, shipping, photoshoots, models etc.
Obviously you will need advertising to promote your t-shirt : celebrities, tv commercials, radio advertisings, billboards in the streets. And to heighten and blend everything you will add a touch of logistics needed to run everything perfectly.
Behind every time-consuming steps are amazing qualified people and savoir-faire who work hard to make a dress/a sweater/a t-shirt that will suit you perfectly.
To sum up, if we want to know the price of a t-shirt we have to count :
A common sense
Then add the human resources needed to market the t-shirt and to run the company (Myself, Aurélie and Charlotte in Made & More). Our photographer Manon, our stylist Elisa, our web developer Nico who takes care of our amazing website. And obviously our adorable saleswomen who work with a big smile at our pop-up store.
We must not forget to add the commerce's rent and the transportation costs necessery to deliver the clothes.
A t-shirt sold for 50€ is fair, really fair. And a t-shirt sold for 10€ is not fair. Not at all.
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