Machine Embroidery Pricing Calculator
Price left-chest logos, hat embroidery, full-back designs, and custom patches by stitch count. Combines industry-standard per-1,000-stitch rates with digitizing amortization, thread cost, backing, and labor time.
Step 1 of 4: Item + stitches
Item type and stitch count from your digitized file. Stitch count drives almost everything else.
From your digitized file. Monogram 2-4k. Small logo 5-8k. Medium logo 8-15k. Full back 25-60k. Jacket back 40-80k.
Retail: $0.80-$1.50. Contract / wholesale: $0.40-$0.80. Hats and patches usually priced 20-30% higher than shirts.
Floor for tiny jobs. $8-$15 typical. Covers the hooping + setup time you spend regardless of stitch count.
Step 1 of 4
How embroidery pricing actually works in 2025
Machine embroidery is one of the few craft categories with a clean industry-standard pricing metric: per 1,000 stitches. A 10,000-stitch chest logo at $1.20/1k stitches runs $12 of stitch charge. Add the blank (say $7 marked up to $10.50), digitizing amortized, thread, backing, and labor, and you land at retail around $24-$28 per shirt. This calculator codifies the industry math so you stop leaving money on the table.
Why stitch count drives price, not design size
A dense 2×2-inch logo with solid color fill can easily have 15,000 stitches. A loosely designed 4×4-inch outline logo might only have 6,000 stitches. The first takes 3-4x longer to stitch despite being smaller. Pricing by stitch count captures this correctly; pricing by design size does not. Always base your pricing on stitch count from the digitized file.
Digitizing: the hidden cost sellers forget
Digitizing is the one-time conversion of a design to a stitch file the machine can run. A clean digitized file runs smoothly, produces high-quality output, and does not break thread. A bad digitized file produces ugly output and wastes hours troubleshooting. Outsourced digitizing costs $15-$75 for standard logos, $75-$200 for complex multi-color art.
For recurring orders, amortize digitizing across the production run. A $40 digitizing fee across 20 shirts is $2/shirt added to cost. For one-off custom orders, charge the customer a separate setup fee so they see the cost explicitly.
Worked example: polo chest logo order
Customer wants 25 polos with their 8,000-stitch chest logo. Blanks at $7 each wholesale. Digitizing was $25 (paid once, amortize across 25 = $1/shirt). Thread at $0.015/1k × 8 = $0.12. Backing $0.25. Labor 4 min per shirt × $28/hr = $1.87. Machine time 8,000 ÷ 800 spm = 10 min × $28/hr = $4.67 of overseeing labor.
- • Stitch rate charge: 8 × $1.20 = $9.60
- • Blank with 1.5x markup: $7 × 1.5 = $10.50
- • Recommended retail per piece: $9.60 + $10.50 = $20.10
- • Total cost per piece: $7 + $1 + $0.12 + $0.25 + $1.87 + $4.67 = $14.91
- • Profit per piece: $5.19 (26% margin)
- • 25-piece order revenue: $502.50
At a 10% volume discount, price per piece drops to $18.09 and margin compresses to 17%. That is the volume trade-off: easier to close the order, tighter margin per piece, more total profit because the digitizing amortizes better across the run.
Frequently asked questions
Compare custom-apparel methods
Embroidery is one of four methods for custom apparel. See how the economics compare to the others you might run alongside.
HTV shirt pricing (cut vinyl)
Vinyl + garment + weeding labor for heat-transfer shirts.
DTF gang sheet economics
Per-transfer cost from sheet utilization.
Screen print at higher volumes
When 48+ piece runs make screen print more profitable.
Team and corporate wholesale math
Contract embroidery pricing for team orders.