The real monthly expenses behind a T‑shirt brand

Let’s put the whole money picture on the table: what you’ll actually spend every month to run a T‑shirt brand. No fluff; just the line items you’ll see on your bank statement, plus a few that founders often forget.

I’ll group these as Fixed, Variable, and Semi‑variable so you know what scales with revenue and what doesn’t.

Fixed (you pay these whether you sell 5 tees or 5,000)

Shopify plan:

₹1,500–₹2,000/mo (annual vs monthly). Worth it for the conversion lift.

Domain + business email

₹80–₹120/mo (annualised). (Domain + Google Workspace/Zoho Mail.)

Essential apps (baseline)

Most brands start with 2–4 apps: reviews, returns portal, variant swatches/UX, image optimiser.

₹1,500–₹4,000/mo combined. (Free themes + light custom code can reduce this heavily.)

Email / SMS / Push platform:

Klaviyo, Omnisend, etc. Entry tiers are cheap; pricing scales with contacts & sends.

Free to start. ₹500–₹5,000/mo early on (expect growth later).

WhatsApp Business API tool

Wati / Interakt / SuperLemon, etc. Platform fee + per‑message cost.

₹1,000–₹5,000/mo baseline (plus message fees).

Team (even lean teams)

Founder draw (if any), 1 ops exec, 1 support/fulfilment, 1 creative (part‑time/contract).

Could be ₹20,000–₹80,000+/mo depending on city & mix. (Scale thoughtfully.)

While starting, honestly, you do not need a fulfilment guy and an operational executive. You can do almost all the work. So, you can reduce this number as per your convenience.

Accounting & compliance

CA retainer for GST filing and bookkeeping. You can do bookkeeping yourself and find a freelance CA guy to file GST. Or you can do it yourself - it’s not rocket science. ₹1000–₹2,000/mo. NIL if you do everything yourself.

Rent (optional but common):

Small office/godown/studio corner. ₹8,000–₹30,000+/mo depending on city & size. You can use your house in the beginning if available.

SaaS odds & ends (the sneaky ones)

Canva/Adobe, Notion, password manager, file storage, AI tools (ChatGPT, Midjourney). ₹1,000 – ₹3,000/mo depending on stack.

Variable (rise/fall directly with orders & traffic)

COGS (product cost)

Fabric + CMT + dye/wash + branding (labels, tags) + polybag + QC. Usually, you produce everything first and then sell. This will be the main expense for you.

Varies by product; e.g., a quality Supima crewneck might be ₹280–₹450 all‑in at moderate MOQs.

Packaging consumables

Mailer boxes/bags, tissue, thank‑you cards, stickers, invoices, label paper, tape. ₹15–₹60/order, depending on how premium you go (and volumetric weight).

Shipping & logistics

Forward freight (slabbed by 0.5 kg/1 kg), COD handling fee (₹15–₹50), NDR/re‑attempt charges, and address correction. Typically ₹65–₹90/order for 0.5 kg standard; add ~₹15–₹45 for COD handling.

Payment processing

Gateways charge ~2% domestic (Shopify + PG ~4% if you don’t optimize), ~3- 3.5% for international via Razorpay, ~5–7% via PayPal, etc.

Marketing (acquisition)

Google/Meta/Influencers. Your biggest lever. Start lean, aim for controlled CAC. Could be ₹10,000 – ₹2,00,000+/mo – spend follows your growth plan.

RTO & returns cost

Forward + reverse freight + repacking + occasional write‑offs. Treat RTO as a “variable tax” on COD – often 10–35% of COD shipments if unmanaged.

Transactional messaging

WhatsApp templates (₹0.3–₹0.8/message typical), SMS (₹0.12–₹0.3), emails (fractions of a rupee). Scales with order volume and marketing cadence.

Influencer seeding & samples

Gifting products, shipping, and content fees (if any). Budget per month or per campaign.

Marketplace commissions (if you add them later)

20–40%+ on order value, plus logistics & promo fees. Keep this secondary to your own site.

Semi‑variable (kick in as you scale or run sprints)

Photo/video shoots

Model, photographer, studio/lighting, editing, props. Bootstrap set: ₹5,000–₹20,000 per shoot. Premium: ₹25,000–₹1,00,000+.

AI image tools

Midjourney/DALL·E/retouchers. Great for banners/mood—use real photos on PDPs. ₹0–₹2,000+/mo depending on use.

Heatmaps & session recordings

Clarity (free) or paid tools like Hotjar/ Zoho Pagesense for CRO. ₹0–₹2,000+/mo.

Warehouse/3PL

Storage fee, pick/pack, and SLA charges once volumes rise. Useful beyond ~30–50 orders/day.

Inventory carrying cost

Capital locked in stock + occasional financing/interest. Quiet but real. Plan buys to turn in 45–90 days if possible.

Legal/IP

Trademark filing, responses, and brand protection. Annualise but budget something – especially as you grow.

Insurance

Transit/stock insurance. Sensible once the monthly inventory value grows.

Hardware

Thermal printer, weighing scale, barcode labels—one‑time, but expect upkeep. 

You can see fixed costs dilute as you scale, while leaks (RTO, heavy apps, poor shipping choices) quietly crush margins if you ignore them.

Commonly missed (and then regretted) costs.

• RTO double freight (forward + reverse) and re‑packaging

• Volumetric weight penalties from oversized boxes

• COD fee from couriers that you forgot to pass on

• App bloat (₹299 here, $9 there… suddenly ₹5,000+/mo)

• Returns refurbishment (steam/press, re‑bagging, QC write‑offs)

• Delayed settlements (COD remittance lags, PG T+2) – cash‑flow planning!

• Discount creep (sitewide codes eroding margin without AOV lift)

How to keep it tight (without feeling cheap)

• Start with a free theme + light custom code, add apps only when ROI is clear.

• Optimise checkout fees (GoKwik/Magic Checkout or direct Razorpay – pick one, measure).

• Nudge prepaid (₹50 UPI discount) and add a small COD fee (₹50) to reduce RTO.

• Bundle & tier pricing to lift AOV (Buy 3, save X).

• Right‑size packaging to the 0.5 kg slab; avoid empty air = avoid volumetric pain.

• CRO first, ads second—double conversion beats doubling ad spend.

• Forecast cash flow (inventory buys, GST outflow, settlements) so growth doesn’t choke you.