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Runsheet · Planning tool

Is overseas actually
cheaper for you?

Comparing a domestic quote to an overseas one by unit price isn’t a comparison. Duty, freight, sampling shipped both ways and months of tied-up cash all land on the overseas side, and freight has a floor that small orders can’t spread. This works out the total both ways and finds the quantity where the answer flips.

Your numbers

The run

Overseas minimums usually apply per combo, not to your total order.

Quotes you have

FOB is the price at their port. Everything after it is yours. Don’t have these yet? Start with the cost calculator.

Getting it here

Apparel carries some of the highest duty in the tariff schedule and rates move with trade policy. Check your actual HTS code before trusting this line.

Development

Each overseas round adds courier both ways and about a week and a half of waiting.

The real comparison

Most overseas factories won’t take this order.

You’re at 200 units per style and colour, and typical overseas minimums start around 300. To qualify you’d need 600 units — which costs $12,156 and leaves you holding stock you didn’t want. The comparison below is what it would cost if someone did take it.

Domestic
$19,400$48.50 all in, per unit
Unit price$46.00
Duty—
Freightincluded
Landed per unit$46.00
Sampling$1,000
Weeks to goods in hand12 wks
Reorder turnaround4–6 wks
Overseas
$8,774$21.94 all in, per unit
Unit price (FOB)$14.00
Duty$2.31
Freight, spread over the run$2.73
Landed per unit$19.04
Sampling$1,160
Weeks to goods in hand20 wks
Reorder turnaround3–5 months

Total cost as the run grows

DomesticOverseas
$0k$9k$19k$28k$38k0200400600800you

The lines cross at roughly 35 units. Below that, the fixed costs of importing — freight, courier, customs — outweigh the cheaper unit price. Above it, volume spreads them out and overseas wins.

What the money actually buys

Domestic

  • Reorder a winner in weeks instead of months — the sales you don’t lose rarely show up in a cost comparison
  • Minimums in the tens, not the hundreds, per style and colour
  • You can stand on the floor and fix a problem while it’s still fixable
  • Far less cash sitting in transit
  • Made in USA is a price lever, not just a sticker

Overseas

  • Genuinely cheaper per unit once volume spreads the fixed costs
  • Capability breadth — specialty knits, hardware and finishes that barely exist domestically
  • Vertical mills, so fabric and sewing sit under one roof
  • The right answer once you’re reordering the same style repeatedly at scale
See what each route does to your launch date →

Freight figures are rough all-in estimates including destination charges, customs brokerage and drayage — a real forwarder quote will differ, and small LCL shipments get hit hardest. Duty is entered by you because apparel rates are high, vary by fibre and construction, and change with trade policy. This compares cost and speed; it can’t compare the two samples sitting on your desk, which is the comparison that should decide it. Leaning domestic? Browse verified factories →