A buyer asks for the style in eight sizes instead of five. It sounds like a small favour, and
the grading bill barely moves. But a run is not one pile of garments. It is one pile per size,
and every extra size makes each pile smaller.
Every size is its own small order
The pattern is graded once per size, and the cutting, bundling and checking are done size by
size. So the cost of a size is shared by that size's garments, not by the whole run.
The same style can be cheap in its big sizes and costly in its small ones, with nothing wrong
in the total.
A worked example
These figures are made up to show the sum. They are not a benchmark and not a claim about any
unit. The grading rate is the one in the
pattern cost article: 25 minutes a size at
₹400 an hour.
One size costs 25 × ₹400 ÷ 60 = ₹166.67 to grade.
That is the price of the size, however many garments are cut in it.
- 3 sizes: ₹500.00 in all.
- 5 sizes: ₹833.33 in all.
- 8 sizes: ₹1,333.33 in all.
On a run of 200, going from five sizes to eight adds ₹500, which is ₹2.50 a garment.
Taken as an average, the extra sizes are close to free.
Then look at the smallest size
Garments are never split evenly. Say a run of 100 is cut in the ratio 1 : 2 : 4 : 2 : 1 over
five sizes, and 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 4 : 3 : 2 : 1 over eight. The piles are:
- Five sizes: 10, 20, 40, 20 and 10 garments.
- Eight sizes: 5, 10, 15, 20, 20, 15, 10 and 5 garments.
Now divide the ₹166.67 of each size by the garments in it:
- A pile of 40: ₹4.17 a garment.
- A pile of 20: ₹8.33.
- A pile of 10: ₹16.67.
- A pile of 5: ₹33.33.
The same grading rate is eight times heavier on the smallest pile of the eight-size run than on
the biggest pile of the five-size one. The average hid that.
Look at the smallest pile, not the run
The run tells you how many garments you make. The smallest size tells you how well the range
is working. If a size has five garments in it, it is paying for a whole size on five.
What to do with a thin size
- Set a minimum per size. The same reasoning as the
minimum order article, one level down:
decide the smallest pile you will cut, and combine or drop sizes below it.
- Cut the range to the sizes that sell. A size that is ordered in fives, run
after run, is a choice you are making each time you grade it.
- Charge for it when the buyer insists. A wide range on a short run is a
cost the buyer can see if the quote shows it.
Measure yours
Nothing above is a reading from your unit. Take the last five orders and write down, for each,
how many sizes were cut and how many garments were in the smallest. If the smallest size is
often under ten, that is where to look first.
What the sums leave out
- A made-up size ratio. The 1 : 2 : 4 : 2 : 1 split is an example. Your
buyers' orders have their own shape.
- Grading is only part of a size's cost. Cutting, bundling and checking a
small pile have costs the sums above do not count, because they depend on your unit.
- Ordered, not wanted. A size that sells in small numbers may still be one
a buyer will not take the style without.
The pattern cost calculator works out the grading line for any number
of sizes. The one-off costs of the whole style are in the
pattern cost article.