How Much Does Custom Sportswear Manufacturing Cost?
There is no useful price list for custom sportswear, and any published one is either for blanks or is wrong. What is worth understanding is which variables move the number, because most of them are yours to set. This explains each cost driver and what you can change.
By Linkworld International Manufacturing Team · Published 14 September 2026
Why we do not publish a price table
A custom garment has no standard cost. The same jersey specification at 50 pieces and at 2,000 pieces is not the same price per unit, and the same quantity in a 140 GSM polyester and a 180 GSM performance knit is not either.
A published table would have to assume a fabric, a construction, a decoration method, a quantity and a destination. Change any one and the number is wrong. What follows is the list of things that change it.
Quantity
Quantity is the largest single driver, and the mechanism is setup cost rather than material. Pattern making, marker making, screen or stitch-file preparation and machine setup are paid once whether you make 50 garments or 500.
On a small run those fixed costs are spread across very few units and dominate the price. The steepest part of the curve is at the bottom: going from 50 to 200 pieces usually moves the unit price more than going from 500 to 1,000. If your budget is fixed, ordering fewer styles in higher quantities almost always beats spreading it thin.
Fabric and GSM
Fabric is usually the largest material cost, and weight drives it almost linearly — a 320 GSM heavyweight uses appreciably more fibre per garment than a 240 GSM.
Fibre content matters as much as weight. Combed cotton costs more than carded. Performance polyester with moisture management costs more than plain polyester. A four-way stretch costs more than a two-way. Recycled and organic certified fabrics carry a premium and, where certification has to be evidenced, a documentation cost too.
Specifying a weight range rather than a single figure often lets a manufacturer quote against fabric that is already in stock, which is cheaper and faster than dyeing to order.
Construction
Every operation is labour. A jersey with a set-in sleeve, a ribbed collar, side panels in a contrast fabric and a curved hem has more operations than a plain body with a bound neck, and it costs more per unit at the same fabric.
- Number of panels — each panel is another seam
- Contrast panels and piping
- Collar type: bound, ribbed, knitted, with or without placket
- Pockets, zips, drawcords, elastic waistbands
- Flatlock and coverstitch operations versus plain overlock
- Lining and interlining
Decoration
Decoration is priced by method, by size, by colour count and by the number of placements. The economics differ sharply between methods.
Screen printing carries a per-colour screen setup that is paid once, so it is expensive on short runs and very cheap at volume. Embroidery is priced by stitch count and runs at roughly the same cost per piece regardless of quantity, because there is little setup to amortise beyond digitising. Sublimation prints the panel before assembly and is largely indifferent to how many colours the artwork has, which is why full-colour sports graphics are usually sublimated rather than printed.
- Screen print: per-colour setup, then low per-piece cost — favours volume and few colours
- Embroidery: priced by stitch count, roughly flat per piece — favours crests over large artwork
- Sublimation: colour count is nearly free, but requires a polyester base
- DTF and heat transfer: low setup, higher per piece — favours short runs and complex artwork
- Tackle twill and appliqué: material plus labour, priced per application
Individual player names and numbers on team kit are a per-garment operation, not a per-order one. Twenty personalised shirts cost more to decorate than twenty identical ones.
Labelling and branding
Woven main labels, neck prints, size and care labels, hangtags, printed tape and custom zip pulls each carry their own minimum order quantity from the trim supplier, and those minimums are frequently higher than your garment quantity.
On a first run this is often the hidden cost. If your garment MOQ is 100 but the woven label minimum is 500, you are buying 500 labels. Ordering label stock to cover several future runs is usually the cheaper path.
Packaging
Bulk polybag and carton packing is the baseline and adds little. Retail-ready packaging is a different cost: individual branded polybags, tissue, boxes, stickers and folded presentation are all per-unit labour plus material.
Decide this early. Retail packaging specified after production has started means garments are unpacked and repacked.
Sampling and development
Pattern drafting, sample making and any tech pack preparation are development costs, paid once. They are real costs on a first order and effectively zero on a reorder of an approved pattern.
Where production-ready artwork has to be prepared, a design or setup fee may apply depending on the work required. Sample payments are settled upfront.
Shipping and duties
Courier is fast and priced by weight and volume; freight is cheaper per unit and slower. Which is right depends on order size, weight and how urgently you need it, and the comparison usually flips somewhere between one and several cartons.
Import duty and taxes at your destination are yours and are set by your country, not by the factory. Factor them in before you compare a domestic quote to an overseas one.
Where the savings actually are
- Consolidate styles and colourways rather than ordering a wide first range thinly
- Specify a fabric weight range so in-stock fabric can be quoted
- Reduce colour count on screen-printed artwork, or move it to sublimation
- Simplify construction before you compromise on fabric — buyers feel fabric first
- Order trims to cover more than one run
- Give the full specification once, so the quote does not have to carry contingency for the unknowns
Discuss your project
Send your designs or references with quantities and your destination, and we will come back with pricing, a sampling plan and a confirmed production schedule.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you give a ballpark price without a specification?
- Not one that would be worth anything. Send the garment type, estimated quantity, fabric or GSM preference, decoration method and destination and we will come back with a real number rather than a range that moves once you fill in the details.
- Does a higher quantity always reduce the unit price?
- Up to a point, and the improvement flattens. The steepest saving is in the lower quantities where fixed setup costs are spread across few units. Beyond a few hundred pieces the price is mostly material and labour, which do not scale down much further.
- Why is my second order cheaper than my first?
- Development costs are paid once. Pattern, grading, digitising and screens exist after the first run, so a reorder of an approved style avoids them. Fabric price and dye lot availability are the variables to reconfirm.
- What is usually the surprise cost on a first order?
- Trim minimums and shipping. Woven labels and hangtags often have supplier minimums well above a first garment run, and courier cost on a heavy first order can be a meaningful share of the total.
Related manufacturing services
Request a custom quote
Send your designs or references, quantities, size range, fabric requirements and destination, and we will come back with pricing, lead times and a sampling plan.
About this guide
Written and reviewed by the Linkworld International manufacturing team in Sialkot, Pakistan. Linkworld International has been manufacturing custom apparel since 1990, with cutting, stitching, printing, embroidery, finishing and packing handled in house. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
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