With the click of a button, you can buy a dress for just $5 on fast-fashion websites like Shein. 

Consumers have become acclimated to a retail landscape where they can buy blouses, pants and dresses for extremely low prices. But those cheap price tags come at a cost. 

Shein employees commonly work 75 hours a week, and only make between about $866 and $1,440 for the entire month, according to a 2024 report from the Swiss human rights group Public Eye. 

President Donald Trump has implemented tariffs on goods from around the world, including a 10% baseline tariff and a 145% tariff on most Chinese imports, and said these levies will help shore up American manufacturing and jobs. 

But it will still likely be cheaper to make clothing abroad in some countries if your production is already in progress, said Niki English, senior director of brand development at AJG Fashion Consulting. “In the past few years, a number of our domestic factories just didn't have the business and had to close,” English said. 

Reskilling laborers and recreating our domestic supply chain will take a lot of time, English said. 

Manufacturing has moved overseas to countries like China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, where the cost of production is lower, said Alexandra Vasquez, the owner and founder of Herderin, a design studio based in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

“In the 1950s, a sewing machine was a mainstay of many American homes. But today, you rarely will see that. We don't have a connection to the clothing making process,” Vasquez said. 

In the first half of the 20th century, Americans spent up to 14% of their annual income on clothing and had a more limited wardrobe. But in 2023, Americans spent less than 3% on clothing as costs have plummeted. 

We asked several clothing experts to share some back-of-napkin calculations on how much each garment should cost if clothing companies are making it in the U.S. and using high-quality materials like wool and silk. Domestic clothing manufacturers still import fabric since the U.S. produces limited quantities of these materials. 

They cautioned that these are generalities because of how tough it is to pin down costs for each clothing item. Endless factors contribute to a garment’s price, like where the manufacturer is making these garments, how many workers they’ve hired, the type of fabric they’re using, how many articles of clothing they’re making, and whether they’re selling wholesale or directly to consumers.

If a clothing designer is selling it directly to consumers at their own retail store, the price for consumers should be at least three times the amount it took to produce it, said Anna Livermore, founder and CEO of V. Mora, a fashion consulting firm. One-third of the price comprises the cost of labor and materials, one-third accounts for overhead, and one-third consists of profits, Livermore said. 

The fabric yardage for men’s clothing may be more, but not by much, Livermore said, which is why these are general estimates for both men’s and women’s clothing.

Dress shirt or blouse

Total price tag for consumers: $126 to $207

Many of the shirts people are purchasing from overseas are made out of polyester, which isn’t a renewable resource even though it is cheaper than other fabrics, Vasquez said. 

If a nice men’s or women’s shirt is made out of organic cotton produced in the U.S., that material will cost at least $14 a yard, Livermore said. While the U.S. still makes cotton, most of it is imported from Asia, Livermore noted. 

Each medium-sized shirt uses about a yard and a half, Livermore said, which means the fabric will come to roughly $21.

Buttons can cost up to 30 cents a piece, so a blouse that uses 10 buttons will cost $3, Livermore said. 

Depending on which state you’re in, the total cost of labor can run between about $18 to $45 per shirt, experts said. 

In California, the minimum wage is $16.50, but fast-food workers make $20 an hour, which means design houses will need to offer wages to compete with restaurants, said Houman Salem, founder and CEO of Argyle Haus of Apparel, a Los Angeles-based fashion design house. 

“If McDonald's is paying $20, my sewers are going to ask for $20,” Salem said. And that’s the minimum. So if you’re paying at least $20 and you factor in workers’ compensation and taxes, three people making 1,000 shirts over the span of a month will amount to almost $18 worth of labor for each blouse, Salem said. 

So in total, the cost of labor and materials for a women’s or men’s shirt can range between about $42 and $69. If you triple those figures, the retail cost for consumers should be between $126 and $207.

Outdoor jacket

Total price tag for consumers: $332 to $1,644

Like shirts, the cost of producing a men’s and women’s jacket is similar, Livermore said.

Jackets require two types of fabric: the self fabric, or the external fabric, and then the lining, Salem said. 

If you’re using wool, that can cost between $20 and $150 a yard, while the lining fabric can cost about $10 a yard if you’re using rayon, experts said. For a jacket, clothing manufacturers need between 2.5 yards of self fabric and 2 yards of lining fabric, Livermore said. 

So in total, fabric can run between $70 and $395. 

A high-quality zipper costs about $3, while snaps are about 10 cents each, Salem said.  If you’re making a jacket with a zipper and four outer pockets that have snaps, that will total $3.40. If you’re adding just a couple of buttons, that will cost 60 cents. 

Labor costs are also higher for jackets because of the degree of complexity it takes to construct one, Livermore said.  “You've got buttons and buttonholes and pockets and pocket linings. So the labor on a jacket takes a lot of time,” Livermore said. 

She estimates it will take $120 to $150 worth of labor to produce a jacket, while Salem puts the amount at between $40 to $50. 

So the range in cost for materials and labor amounts to between about $111 and $548. If you triple those figures, that amounts to a retail price of between about $332 and $1,644.

Jeans

Total price tag for consumers: $234 to $324 

Denim, which is made out of cotton, can cost $12 a yard and a pair of jeans requires about two yards, putting the cost at $24, Livermore said. Buttons, zippers and grommets will cost $4. That means materials will amount to $28, Livermore said. 

The cost of labor will set you back between $50 and $80, Livermore said. 

In total, materials and labor costs amount to between $78 and $108, Livermore said. These calculations don’t include washings, which would add costs, she noted. 

Niki English at AJG Fashion Consulting also gave a similar range for the cost of a pair of jeans. “You've got to cut and make that thing. It's super complicated. It's got a ton of pockets, it's got rivets, it's got a fly, it's got a waistband, it’s got shank buttons, back pockets, belt loops, and those are all super high precision. So they take special machinery, special equipment, skilled labor,” English said. 

If you triple these figures, that means the retail cost for a pair of jeans should range between $234 and $324.

Evening gown

Total price tag for consumers: $594 to $750

Silk is expensive and is usually imported from China, Japan or South Korea, Livermore said. 

Silk at the low end can cost $26 a yard, and clothing manufacturers need between 3 to 5 yards per gown, according to experts. That puts the price of materials at between $78 and $130.

“Gowns are normally what we call cut on a bias, so it uses more fabric,” Livermore said. 

Labor will cost $120, Livermore estimates, putting the total cost between $198 and $250. 

Making a dress with silk requires highly skilled labor. “There is a lot that goes into making a dress drape the way that it does,” Vasquez said. “You're focusing more on craftsmanship.” 

It’s also a trickier material to handle. “Silk is really hard to sew. It's a really slippery fabric,” Vasquez said. 

And making it from scratch is tough. “You have to get the pattern right, and that's complicated, because you're dealing with different kinds of cuts,” Vasquez said. 

If you triple the cost of labor and materials, that means a very simple high-quality dress without embellishments can cost between $594 and $750 at retail. If you’re adding beading or specialty lace, that will bump up the cost even further.

Suit for any formal occasion

Total price tag for consumers: $750 to $2,610 

Like a normal jacket, the jacket in a men’s suit will have a self fabric and a lining fabric, and it will also require about 2.5 yards of self fabric and 2 yards of lining fabric, Livermore said. For the pants, you’ll need 1.5 yards of the same material as the self fabric, Livermore said. 

If wool costs between $20 and $150 a yard, and lining fabric costs $10 a yard, the materials for both the jacket and pants will amount to between $100 and $620.

The cost of making that suit will range between $150 and $250 if you’re making 1,000 units, Livermore said.

“It takes a lot of time to put together a suit jacket. There are a lot of pieces. Things are interfaced and block fused, and you've got buttons and buttonholes and pockets and pocket linings,” Livermore said.

In total, materials and labor will cost between $250 and $870. If you triple these prices, the cost for consumers will amount to between $750 and $2,610.