The Cost of Making a 25l Pack
2022-11-17
Recently I have been updating my costings and decided to share a costing for a FP 25l Strong pack.
I have a postgraduate degree in finance and have some real world experience costing things. My figures have some credibility.
Nearly everything in this pack is sourced From NZ except the fabric. The fabric came from the US before the recent slide in the NZD, but shipping was USD4/yard. A yard is 0.9144 of a meter.
| ITEM | COST(NZD) |
|---|---|
| Ladderlocks | 0.264 |
| 19mm Side Release Buckles | 1.386 |
| 25mm Side Release Buckle | 0.649 |
| 25mm Tri Slides | 0.308 |
| 19mm Tri Slides | 0.251 |
| Barrel Locks | 0.231 |
| 25mm Polyester Webbing | 0.716 |
| 20mm Polyester Webbing | 1.885 |
| 12mm Polyester Webbing | 0.087 |
| 10mm Polyester Webbing | 0.159 |
| 10mm EVA foam | 12.601 |
| 3mm Shock Cord | 1.195 |
| 25mm Woven Elastic | 0.681 |
| EPX200 | 12.528 |
| EPX400 | 4.285 |
| 3D Spacer Mesh | 7.248 |
| HDPE Gridstop | 2.146 |
| Lycra | 3.743 |
| Press Studs | 0.1 |
| Thread | 0.267 |
| Needle | 0.65 |
| Tape | 0.5 |
| Courier Bag | 1.243 |
| Labour 4hrs | 114.0 |
| Variable Costs | 167.13 |
| Fixed Costs | 50.13 |
| Min Price incl GST, card fee, excl Courier | 263.51 |
The main cost is labour. Labour includes 8% leave pay, 3% kiwisaver contributions, ACC levy.
Four hours is by no means generous. A learner with 4 packs under the belt could take 11 hours and is unlikely to produce a saleable pack. Sewing is a highly skilled job. My flowchart for this pack has 61 steps, each step often includes multiple similar tasks. Big bags are exponentially harder.
All the small costs add up very quickly.
There is a small allowance in my costs for cutting table waste, but if you make a mistake, you could loose hours of work and all the fabric used. I have not allowed for this cost.
Training costs have not been accounted for either.
If I am to be paid for my time, a 45l pack must take 6 hours, a big pack 8 hours or so. Custom features are generally unwelcome, it can take a whole day of prototyping to make something semi good. One hour of production time is worth around $70, so even a small request can cost a lot of money to produce.
I recently bought some $9 shirts for myself, I know how hard someone worked and I feel no pleasure from it. Next time you buy something cheap, ask yourself who worked for nothing to make your purchase.
Buy ethically.