5 things independent designers forget to price in, and it's the reason they're earning less than a 9-to-5

 On a new client's first session I asked what her selling price was and despite having beautiful logos, packaging and designs, her prices bore no relation to the cost price, materials, complexity of design or even to her ideal customer.

If I hadn't stopped her in time she would have wasted all that sampling and launching budget...  and no sales was the least of her problems.   The worst thing was that she actually risked giving her brand a bad reputation, because buyers would see that she didn't know what she was doing.

Many designers fall into this trap.   There are 5 key things that independent designers forget to price in, and it's the reason they're earning less than a 9-to-5... even if their garments sell for thousands.

1: Fittings and alterations.

Most designers only price the time spent cutting and sewing, but fittings can add 5 to 10 hours per style. Multiple fittings, adjustments, tweaks to get the fit perfect? That's all unpaid labour if you're not pricing it in.

When you realise fittings alone can add £200 to £500 to the real cost of a style, you stop treating them as extras and start pricing them properly.

2: Emails and client communication.

Every question answered. Every fabric choice discussed. Every timeline confirmed. Every update sent. It all adds up, sometimes 3 to 5 hours per client.

That's labour. And if you're not pricing it in, you're working for free.

3: Sourcing fabric and trims.

Researching suppliers, ordering samples, driving to the fabric wholesalers, dealing with delivery problems, finding the perfect buttons, zips and lining.

These can take 5 to 10 hours per style, and most designers don't count a single minute of it.

Sourcing is skilled work and it's part of what makes the garment exceptional. When you start pricing it in, you stop resenting the time it takes and start valuing your expertise.

4: Pattern adjustments and toiles.

The first toile doesn't fit. You adjust the pattern. Make a second toile. Still not right. Adjust again. A third toile, until it's finally perfect.

That's 10 to 20 hours of skilled labour, and if you're not pricing it in, you've just worked for free to get the garment ready to make.

Pattern work is design work. When you see toiles as part of the process you should be charging for, not a cost you absorb, pricing becomes honest.

5: Admin, photography, and posting on Instagram.

Invoicing, bookkeeping, photographing the finished piece, editing the photos, writing captions, posting. scheduling...

All of it takes time,  sometimes 2 to 5 hours per garment, and none of it is usually priced in.

These are business tasks that have to happen for the garment to sell. When you start tracking them, you realise you've been subsidising your business with unpaid admin work, and you add a project fee or build it into your base pricing.

Here's the result when you start counting these 5 things:

You stop undercharging. You stop resenting the invisible work. And you start running your business like a business that actually pays you for ALL the labour, not just the part the customer sees.

If you're ready to stop working for less than you're worth, I'm putting together something new.

I am launching Pricing for Growth, a mini programme built to help you price your work properly so you're never guessing again.

If you want to be first in line sign up for my newsletter HERE to make sure you're the first invited.

Let's fix this now.

Jane
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