Embroidery business calculator

Check the numbers behind an embroidery side hustle or shop: profit per piece, monthly profit, how many sales you need to break even and how many months until the machine has paid for itself.

Setting up

Machine and equipment$One-time: machine, hoops, starter threadMonthly fixed costs$Software, shop fees, utilities

Each piece

Selling price$Blank (shirt, towel…)$Thread, backing, packaging$Fees%Marketplace and payment fees

Pieces sold a month

Monthly profit

$745.00

on $1,500.00 in sales · 55% margin per piece

Profit per piece: $13.75
Cost per piece: $11.25
Break-even: 6 pieces/mo
Machine pays off: 2.0 months
First year: $7,440.00
Fees per piece: $2.50

A planning estimate before taxes and your own time. First year includes the setup cost.

Digitizing without a per-design fee

Plans from $8 a month billed yearly make every custom order's file in seconds. Add it to your fixed costs above.

Start free See plans

What it shows

The numbers that decide it

Cost per piece
Blank, thread, backing and packaging, plus marketplace and payment fees.
Profit per piece
What's left of each sale, and the margin as a percentage.
Monthly profit
Profit per piece times pieces sold, minus monthly fixed costs.
Break-even
How many pieces a month cover your fixed costs.
Payback
Months until the machine and equipment have paid for themselves.
First year
Twelve months of profit minus the setup cost.

Tips

Improving the numbers

Charge for personalization: names, dates and custom logos are what customers pay extra for.
Avoid per-design digitizing fees on custom orders; they eat the margin on single pieces.
Buy blanks in bulk once a product sells, and keep fewer colors in stock.
Use the pricing calculator for quotes and the production calculator for machine time.

Free account

Create a free account to digitize any image, try every setting and watch it sew. Choose a plan only when you want to download files.

Digitize and preview any image
Realistic stitch preview and sew-out
Download free ready-made designs
No credit card needed

FAQ

Questions

The quickest way to see what it does with your artwork is to try it. With a free account, digitizing and previewing cost nothing and take about a minute.

Is an embroidery business profitable?

It can be: personalized items often sell for several times the cost of the blank and thread. Profit depends on your price, your cost per piece, marketplace fees and how many pieces you sell each month. The calculator shows all four together.

How do I calculate break-even for embroidery?

Profit per piece is the price minus the blank, thread and backing, packaging and fees. Divide your monthly fixed costs by that profit to get the pieces you need to sell each month to break even.

How long does it take to pay off an embroidery machine?

Divide the machine and equipment cost by your monthly profit. At $15 profit a piece and 60 pieces a month after fixed costs, a $1,500 setup pays off in about two months.

What should I include in fixed costs?

Software subscriptions (including digitizing), shop and listing fees, insurance, utilities and anything else you pay every month regardless of sales.

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