📋 Today's Reddit Post

Got a 500-piece embroidery order done last month and the bill was ₹25,000. My first reaction was honestly anger — ₹50 per piece felt way too high.

Then I sat down and actually calculated the machine time. Turns out I never thought about it before.

Single head embroidery takes 7-8 minutes per piece for an average logo. For 500 pieces that's 60-65 hours straight — literally 8 full working days of non-stop machine time. Add electricity, labour, maintenance… suddenly ₹50 doesn't sound insane.

Talked to another vendor who quoted ₹35-38 per piece using a double head machine. Double head does two pieces simultaneously so half the time, half the electricity and labour cost. Makes total sense now.

Lesson I learned: for 100-200 pieces single head is fine, but anything 500+ you need double head or you're just paying for wasted time. Now I always ask how many heads they're running before I even negotiate.

₹25k felt like a rip-off until I understood the economics behind it. Wish I'd known this earlier.

Full breakdown with photos: https://www.bulkplaintshirt.com/p/500-t-shirts-embroidery-cost-25000-single-vs-double-head.html

Anyone else got surprised by embroidery costs before understanding the machine time?