Cost Breakdown of a Medium Impact Sports Bra
A quote arrives as a single FOB number and the buyer negotiates that number, which is the least useful place to look. Cost in a medium impact bra sits in a handful of identifiable lines, and the leverage is in the lines, not the total. Once you know that fabric and trims typically account for over half the ex-works cost, and which specification decisions move each one, a conversation about price becomes a conversation about design.
Where the Money Goes
For a typical cut-and-sew medium impact bra with a cut-out back, removable pads and a three-row closure, the ex-works split is roughly: fabric 30 to 40 percent, trims 18 to 28 percent, labour 15 to 25 percent, factory overhead and quality control 5 to 10 percent, and packaging 3 to 6 percent. Freight, duty and insurance sit on top and are handled separately in a landed cost calculation.
Trims are unusually high compared with other activewear categories, and that is the point: pads, elastic, hook tape and labels are a genuine cost centre in a bra, not a rounding error.
Fabric Cost Drivers
Fabric cost is driven by GSM, usable width, marker efficiency, fibre and elastane content. Higher GSM costs more per kilogram and usually reduces yield. Branded elastane adds a premium, commonly 8 to 15 percent over a generic equivalent, in exchange for more consistent recovery. Recycled nylon or polyester adds a further premium, often 15 to 30 percent, plus certification overhead.
Width matters more than buyers expect. A wider roll with the same usable properties improves marker efficiency and can reduce cost per piece even at a higher price per kilogram.
Trim Cost Drivers
Removable pads are the largest single trim line: roughly USD 0.30 to 0.60 per pair for die-cut foam, and USD 0.60 to 1.30 per pair for moulded, plus tooling of USD 300 to 1,200 per shape. Underband elastic is priced per metre and depends on width, construction and finish. Hook-and-eye tape varies with row count, hook count and coating.
Labels are small individually but add up: a heat transfer label commonly costs USD 0.05 to 0.15 applied, while woven labels run USD 0.03 to 0.10 each plus a minimum. Branding choices made for aesthetic reasons can add 3 to 5 percent to unit cost once you include the extra operation.
Labour and SMV
Labour tracks the standard minute value. A medium impact bra with cut-out panelling, a pad pocket and a hook closure lands around 12 to 18 SMV. Every additional panel, every bound edge and every topstitch adds operations. Bonded seams reduce sewing operations but add film cost and equipment time, so they are not automatically cheaper.
The practical lever is panel count. Simplifying a back cut-out from a bound multi-piece construction to a single-piece turned edge can remove two to three minutes of SMV without changing the look.
Costs Buyers Forget
Laboratory testing typically runs USD 300 to 800 per style depending on the test list and market. Third-party inspection runs USD 200 to 350 per inspector-day. Sample courier charges, bank transfer fees, currency spread and the cost of your own time in sample rounds rarely appear in the margin calculation, and together they often exceed the saving that prompted a supplier switch.
How to Read a Quote
Confirm the basis: FOB, EXW or CIF, and which port. Confirm currency, price validity, normally 30 to 60 days, and whether fabric price escalation is passed through. Confirm what the price excludes: testing, moulded pad tooling, hangtags, polybags, and any labelling. Ask for a line-item breakdown on the first order; suppliers who will not provide one are usually protecting margin somewhere.
Then negotiate by changing specification, not by pressing the total. A 5 percent saving from a specification decision lasts. A 5 percent concession extracted at the end usually reappears as a substitution in the second order.
