How much should you price your T-shirt?

So, you’ve picked your fabric, figured out your audience, and maybe even shortlisted your first product to launch. But now comes the big, slightly uncomfortable question:

How much should I price it?

This part feels tricky, right? Too low – you barely make a profit. Too high – will anyone buy? Pricing isn’t just about math. It’s about positioning. Let’s talk about the math part.

When I speak to new founders, I often notice three types of mindsets:

One -  “Let’s keep the price affordable. ₹499 sounds great.”

Two - “I want to be premium. My tees should sell at ₹5,000 or even ₹10,000+.”

Three - “Let’s price at ₹999 for crew necks and ₹1,499 for polos. That feels right.”

Here’s the truth - all three approaches can work. But only if your pricing matches your brand story, identity, product quality, and delivery experience.

But for now, let’s understand the numbers behind pricing.

Let’s assume you want to make a premium-quality T-shirt.

Say your total cost for one T-shirt is ₹400. This includes fabric, stitching (CMT), dyeing, washing, branding elements (labels, tags), and packaging. Add ₹60 for shipping. You might think, “Cool, I’ll sell it for ₹999 and make ₹539 profit.”

But wait, did you factor in:

👉 GST (5%)
👉 Payment gateway fee (2–3%)
👉 Return/Exchange handling
👉 Shopify App + Transactional Fee (2% + app charges)
👉 Ads and marketing (which might be ₹100 – ₹300 per item)
👉 Salaries, rent, electricity bill, phone bill, etc. (fixed costs)

By the time you subtract all this, that ₹539 margin is gone. You’re either breaking even or
silently bleeding.

So how do you price smartly?

Some go for cost-plus pricing. You calculate your cost (say ₹539), and add a 2X or 2.5X markup, landing you at ₹1,100–₹1,350. This gives you breathing room.

Others look at break-even analysis. If it costs you ₹200 to acquire a customer (ads), and your margin is just ₹150, you’re already at a loss. In that case, raising your price or reducing your CAC is not always easy in the beginning.

Then there’s the tiered pricing approach - a lower-priced hero product to acquire customers, and premium SKUs to increase your AOV (average order value). Say: ₹799 Supima Crewneck + ₹1,599 Bamboo Polo.

Another approach? Check what your competitors are charging and position yourself accordingly - slightly below, slightly above, or completely different.

Now, a quick thought…

If you’re dreaming of launching a truly premium brand - ₹5,000 or ₹10,000+ tees - it’s absolutely possible. But your pricing has to be backed by premium storytelling, packaging, fabric, fit, and brand aura. Otherwise, it’ll just feel overpriced.

We’ll dive deep into the next topic, how brands sell plain-looking T-shirts for ₹7,999 and how you can too (ethically).

Let’s take a real-world example:

• Selling price: ₹1,099
• Manufacturing cost: ₹350
• Customer acquisition (ads): ₹200
• Shipping + gateway: ₹100
• Fixed cost allocation: ₹100
• GST: ₹50

You’re left with ₹299.

Now, from that, you cover team costs, returns, website fees, etc., and still stay profitable. Even better? When that customer buys again, you don’t pay the ₹200 in ads. Retention platforms (email, push, SMS, WhatsApp) cost very little compared to paid ads. That’s pure margin. This is what real profitability looks like.

From my experience, I can confidently say – you don’t make your profit on the first sale. You make it on the second sale to the same customer.

Let’s say you’re acquiring customers for ₹200 and making a ₹200 profit per item. That means 100 customers a month gives you ₹20,000 in margin.

Now, you have flexibility. You can either keep profits steady or scale faster by spending more to acquire more.

Let’s say you bring in 200 new customers and reduce your profit per item to ₹20. I’d still go for it.

Why?

Because those 100 + 100 new customers will come back, and when they do, those repeat sales bring huge margins.

But again, it depends on your objective. It all starts with selling your first few dozen T-shirts and understanding your unit economics.

Also, don’t forget the sneaky little extras – auditor fees, design tools, team maintenance, warehousing, and so on. We’ll cover all of that in the coming days.

One last thing about fixed costs, they don’t change whether you sell 50 or 5,000 T-shirts. So in the beginning, your fixed cost per item will be higher. But as you scale, it shrinks dramatically.

Let’s say your total fixed cost is ₹10,000/month.

• Sell 50 items → ₹200 per item
• Sell 200 items → ₹50 per item

That’s your hidden profit leaver.

So when you price your T-shirt, always remember – you’re charging for the value you create, not just the fabric you use.

Look at Apple. Do they price based on manufacturing costs?

Not even close. They charge based on what their customers believe it’s worth.

That’s perceived value pricing – and we’ll explore that next topic.

Can’t wait to show you how to make your ₹500 T-shirt feel like it’s worth ₹10,000.