How to Price Embroidery Work & Services
Stitch rate is only one line. Blanks, digitizing and minutes at the machine still have to be paid.
Price per 1,000 stitches is a production rate
A common shop method is: (stitches / 1,000) × rate, then add the garment. That works only if the rate is high enough to cover thread, stabilizer, machine wear and operator time.
After you have a full cost, divide the selling price by stitches/1,000. That effective rate is what you actually earned, and it is often lower than the stitch line you quoted.
How to charge for machine embroidery work
When quoting custom machine embroidery, break the quote into three distinct parts: (1) One-time digitizing fee ($15–$50 depending on complexity), (2) Garment/blank cost with a 40–100% markup, and (3) Stitch run fee based on stitch count tiers.
For small orders (under 12 pieces), charge a higher stitch rate ($1.50 to $2.50 per 1,000 stitches) or a minimum job charge ($25–$35) to compensate for hooping, color changes, and setup time.
Digitizing is not free if you did it
If a customer pays for digitizing once, amortize it across the pieces in that order. If you digitize for your own shop, still assign a cost per design and spread it across expected uses.
The Embroidery Pricing Calculator splits a digitizing fee across items in the job so a one-off logo is not priced like a 50-piece run.
Wholesale embroidery pricing strategies
Volume discounts in embroidery make sense because setup, hooping, and digitizing are fixed costs. As run size increases from 12 to 144+ pieces, the cost per piece drops dramatically.
Create tiered pricing brackets (1–11, 12–35, 36–71, 72–143, 144+) with decreasing stitch rates while maintaining a healthy margin on the garment blanks.