Lesson 7 · Garment costing
Trims costing with a BOM
6 min
In a real company
Trims merchandiser, sourcing, store
Buttons, labels, thread and hangtags look small, but on 10,000 pieces they add up to lakhs. A Bill of Materials (BOM) lists every trim with quantity and rate so nothing is missed.
Key ideas
- Item cost = quantity per garment × rate.
- Thread: metres per garment ÷ cone length × cone price.
- Add trims wastage (lost, damaged, rejected) — usually 2–5%.
Formula
- Item cost
- = Qty per garment × Rate
- Thread / garment
- = Thread m ÷ Cone length × Cone price
- Trims / piece
- = Σ items × (1 + Wastage%)
Worked example
Shirt BOM: 8 buttons at ₹0.75, main label ₹2.50, care label ₹1.20, hangtag ₹3, other ₹1, 180 m thread from a 5,000 m cone costing ₹95. Wastage 3%.
- 1Buttons = 8 × 0.75 = ₹6.00
- 2Thread = 180 ÷ 5,000 × 95 = ₹3.42
- 3Net = 6 + 2.5 + 1.2 + 3 + 1 + 3.42 = ₹17.12
- 4With 3% wastage = ₹17.63
✅ ₹17.63 trims cost per shirt.
Try it live in the calculatorCommon mistakes
- Forgetting spare buttons and size labels.
- Pricing thread per cone instead of per garment.
- No wastage — the store runs short.
Quick quiz
Answer 2 of 3 correctly to complete the lesson.
1. 6 buttons at ₹0.50 each = ?
2. 200 m thread, 4,000 m cone at ₹80. Thread cost / garment?
3. What is a BOM?