Cost breakdown of a sample €29 t-shirt.
This graphic shows the sorry state of the apparel industry as far as the manufacturers, however, all costs are not covered in this graphic.
In this example; labour cost is 0.62% of the retail price of 29 euros. A minimum of 1% of retail price would provide a labour cost of 0.29 compared with 0.18 stated here.
Maybe textile factory workers wages should be linked to the retail price of the garments that they sew?
The cost of finance, the cost of holding inventory, the import duty and taxes, inland logistics from Port to DC.
There is also the distribution cost to the stores, labour cost for loading, unpacking , refinishing , repacking and storing, cost of in-store open from hangers to store overheads, marketing (digital and generic marketing) and brand costs.
The cost of salesmen samples and salesmen, return costs, damage and rejection costs (which is to the tune of 1-1.5% no matter which AQL you use).
The only way to increase factory workers wages is for customers pay more for product but with that said the product needs to be sustainable in the long run, I mean, it needs to have a remarkable quality and life span.
The labour cost of € 0.18 is extremely low, while €29 for a T-shirt is considered extremely high.
What would be a more market representative retail cost of a t-shirt, 14 euros?