What is in a garment cost sheet? SMV, CM, consumption, trims, wash and FOB, explained.
Every price a garment factory sends a buyer comes out of one sheet. What each line is, which department produces it, how it is calculated, and where the number really comes from.
Every price a garment factory sends a buyer comes out of one sheet. It has the same eight or nine lines in Dhaka, Guangzhou and Tiruppur, and it is built by five departments who rarely sit in the same room. Here is what each line is, who produces it, and where the number really comes from.
The lines, in the order they are made
| Line | What it is | Who produces it | How it is usually calculated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric | The main cloth, plus pocketing, fusing, rib, piping | The CAD room, from the marker | Consumption per piece × fabric price × (1 + wastage); wastage often 3 to 5% |
| Trims and accessories | Buttons, rivets, zippers, labels, thread, poly bags | Sourcing, from supplier quotes | Each BOM line × quantity per piece, at the supplier's quote or the last order's price |
| CM (cut and make) | The factory's own sewing cost | Industrial engineering | SMV × the factory's cost per minute, sometimes with an efficiency factor |
| Washing | The wash recipe at the laundry | The washing department or the wash plant | Price per dozen at the plant's quote, divided by twelve |
| Print and embroidery | Any surface work | The print or embroidery unit | Per piece, or per thousand stitches, at the unit's rate |
| Standing charges | Testing, courier and sample costs spread over the order | The merchandiser | Fixed amounts per piece, from the factory's policy |
| Commercial | Bank, L/C and handling costs | The merchandiser | A percentage on cost, set by the factory |
| Profit | What the factory keeps | The merchandiser or management | A percentage on cost, set per order |
| FOB | The price per piece at the port | The merchandiser | The cost lines, plus commercial, plus profit |
Three words that decide whether the sheet is any good
SMV, the standard minute value, is the time a trained operator takes to sew the garment at a standard pace. Industrial engineering builds it operation by operation. CM is that time priced: SMV multiplied by what a minute of the factory's sewing floor really costs, wages, overheads and all. The factory's own loaded rate and IE's theoretical rate are often different numbers, and a sheet that uses the wrong one is wrong before anything else is considered.
Consumption is the cloth the garment really needs: from the marker, at the factory's size ratio, not from a rule of thumb. A marker laid for a different size mix gives a different number, which is why the CAD room, not the merchandiser, owns this line.
Where the number actually comes from
A sheet is only as good as the basis of each line. In our product every figure carries one of three tags:
- Established: from a past order, a rate card, a supplier quote or a signed price, cited.
- Derived: arithmetic on established figures, with the arithmetic shown. CM is derived from the SMV and the minute rate; the fabric line from consumption, price and wastage.
- Assumed: a stated norm, used only when nothing better exists, and flagged with what would settle it. A care label with no quote yet is assumed at a category norm until sourcing returns a price.
A number with no basis is not a line; it is a question to send to a person. The most common silent error in the sheets we are shown is an assumed line that nobody flagged, carried forward from a sheet two seasons old.
The mistakes that cost the most
- 01Costing CM at a standard or theoretical minute rate instead of the factory's own loaded rate. The sheet looks right and the FOB is low by the difference.
- 02Consumption from a rule of thumb rather than the marker. A stripe or a check that has to match can use more cloth than the rule allows for.
- 03A metal trim priced from last year's order while the metal has moved. The quote should say which day's price it used.
- 04Washing at the price the merchandiser hopes to negotiate rather than at the plant's quote on the day.
- 05Forgetting the standing charges, because they are small per piece and large per order.
Who approves what
In a factory that runs this well, the AI drafts each department's line, the department head approves or corrects it, and the merchandiser approves the FOB before anything leaves. The departments keep their expertise, the sheet keeps its sources, and the buyer gets a price the factory can defend.
The standard minute value: the time a trained operator needs to sew one garment at a standard pace, built by industrial engineering operation by operation. It is the time half of the CM line.
CM is the factory's own cutting and making cost per piece: SMV multiplied by the factory's cost per minute. FOB is the full price per piece at the port: fabric, trims, CM, wash, print, standing charges, commercial and profit.
From the marker: the CAD room lays the pattern pieces for the order's size ratio on the fabric width and reads the cloth used per piece, then adds a wastage allowance, often 3 to 5%.
Established: a cited past order, rate card, supplier quote or signed price. Derived: arithmetic on established figures, shown. Assumed: a stated norm used only when nothing better exists, flagged with what would settle it.