A baby clothes business plan sets out what you'll sew and who buys it, what each piece costs and sells for, the rules for children's products, and the first year month by month. Baby clothes are sewn goods like any other, fabric, snaps and minutes, with one big difference: anything made mainly for children 12 and under is a children's product, which brings third-party testing, a certificate, lead limits, and a permanent tracking mark that ties each piece to its production batch. Planning for that up front, and keeping each batch's fabric and trims on record, is what lets a small maker sell to boutiques. In the example below, a maker in Providence sells rompers, bib sets and swaddles direct and rompers to boutiques, makes a profit from month 3, and ends the year about $18,400 ahead on $70,700 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the sewing. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the children's product rules, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the business in a paragraph: the pieces, where you sell, the studio, the goals.
- Cost each piece: fabric, snaps, the care and tracking label, sewing time, packaging, fees.
- Sell direct for the margin; sell batch-sewn pieces to boutiques.
- Baby clothes are children's products: third-party testing and a Children's Product Certificate.
- Each piece and its packaging carries a tracking mark with where, when and which batch.
- Small batch manufacturers can register with CPSC for lighter testing on some rules, not all.
- TaroStack keeps every batch with its fabric and trim lots, the record a tracking mark points to. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Federal Hill Baby, a made-up children's clothing maker in Providence, Rhode Island, I use in these examples, writes:
Federal Hill Baby sews rompers, bib sets and muslin swaddles from tested cotton fabrics and trims, in batches with a tracking label in every piece, sold online, at craft fairs, and to boutiques. In our first year we plan to supply 10 boutiques.
Part 2: what each piece costs
| Per unit | Romper, direct | Bib set of three | Muslin swaddle | Romper to boutiques |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric | $6.00 | $2.40 | $9.00 | $6.00 |
| Snaps | $0.60 | $0.60 | $0.60 | |
| Care and tracking label | $0.30 | $0.30 | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Sewing, at $20 an hour | 40 min, $13.33 | 30 min, $10.00 | 15 min, $5.00 | 25 min, $8.33 |
| Packaging | $0.60 | $0.50 | $0.60 | $0.60 |
| Selling and card fees, 6% | $2.52 | $1.44 | $1.92 | |
| Variable cost | $23.35 | $15.24 | $16.82 | $15.83 |
A romper is half a yard of cotton knit at $12 and 40 minutes at the machine when sewn one at a time; the boutique rompers are cut and sewn in batches of a size run, which takes them to 25 minutes. A swaddle is 1.25 yards of double gauze and mostly straight seams. How to put your own time into a price is in how to price handmade items.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | A month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby romper, cotton knit, direct | $42.00 | $23.35 | $18.65 | 44.4% | 80 |
| Bib set of three, direct | $24.00 | $15.24 | $8.76 | 36.5% | 60 |
| Muslin swaddle, direct | $32.00 | $16.82 | $15.18 | 47.4% | 100 |
| Romper to boutiques, batch-sewn | $24.00 | $15.83 | $8.17 | 34.0% | 100 |
A boutique romper leaves $8.17, less than half a direct one, and only works because batch sewing takes 15 minutes off it; sewn one at a time, it would leave $3.17. Boutiques also ask for the Children's Product Certificate before they'll stock a line. How to set a wholesale price that holds up is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Part 4: the children's product rules
Products designed or intended mainly for children 12 and under are children's products, which must be third-party tested and covered by a written Children's Product Certificate (CPSC). Lead in a children's product is limited to 100 parts per million (15 U.S.C. 1278a), which is why snaps and trims are bought from suppliers with test reports. The maker has to put permanent, distinguishing marks on the product and its packaging, to the extent practicable, giving the location and date of production and the batch or run, so a buyer can tell who made it and when (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(5)). A small batch manufacturer may register with CPSC and use alternative testing or exemptions for some rules, though not for all, and not for durable infant or toddler products. So the plan budgets $1,500 of lab tests for its first fabrics and trims, $100 every month for new ones, and a printed label in every piece with the batch number. This is general information, not legal advice.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $935 a month: a studio share ($200), market and craft fair fees ($200), marketing ($300), insurance ($60), the website and online shop ($40), software and card fees ($35), and lab testing for new fabrics and trims ($100). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11:
| Month | Rompers, direct | Bib sets | Swaddles | Rompers to boutiques | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 15 | $1,560 | −$282 | −$282 |
| 2 | 16 | 12 | 20 | 20 | $2,080 | −$64 | −$347 |
| 3 | 20 | 15 | 25 | 25 | $2,600 | $153 | −$193 |
| 4 | 24 | 18 | 30 | 30 | $3,120 | $371 | $177 |
| 5 | 32 | 24 | 40 | 40 | $4,160 | $806 | $983 |
| 6 | 40 | 30 | 50 | 50 | $5,200 | $1,241 | $2,225 |
| 7 | 48 | 36 | 60 | 60 | $6,240 | $1,677 | $3,901 |
| 8 | 56 | 42 | 70 | 70 | $7,280 | $2,112 | $6,013 |
| 9 | 64 | 48 | 80 | 80 | $8,320 | $2,547 | $8,560 |
| 10 | 72 | 54 | 90 | 90 | $9,360 | $2,982 | $11,542 |
| 11 | 80 | 60 | 100 | 100 | $10,400 | $3,418 | $14,960 |
| 12 | 80 | 60 | 100 | 100 | $10,400 | $3,418 | $18,378 |
The year's sales are $70,720 and the profit $18,378, on top of $20 an hour for the sewing. At full speed that's about 150 hours of sewing a month, more than one person part-time, so the second sewer is paid from the $20 an hour already in each piece's cost.
Part 6: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Sewing machine and serger | $1,800 |
| Snap press and dies | $150 |
| Cutting table and tools | $300 |
| Fabric, first order | $1,200 |
| Printed care and tracking labels | $200 |
| Third-party lab tests for the first products | $1,500 |
| Product photos | $300 |
| Website | $300 |
| Market display | $450 |
| Working cash | $2,000 |
| Total to start | $8,200 |
Get the template
Download the baby clothes business plan workbook. Four sheets: your pieces with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs, testing included; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Eight fabrics, each with its own test report, snaps in four colors, rompers in five sizes, a batch every week, and boutiques that want the certificate and the batch number for what they bought. A notebook can't say which fabric roll went into batch 27, which boutiques got rompers from it, or how many 6–12 month rompers are on the shelf. How a batch record keeps that trail is in what is a batch record.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps every batch with its fabric and trim lots, the record a tracking mark points to.
Batches with their lots. Each piece is a recipe of its fabric, snaps, label and packaging, and units convert: fabric bought by the bolt, used by the yard. Recording a batch takes them off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, notes the lots automatically, and gives the batch its number for the tracking label. Batch record forms can carry your own fields, such as the test report for each fabric, with sign-off.
From a batch to every customer. One report walks a fabric or snap lot to every batch it went into and every boutique and customer who got pieces from it, which is what a tracking mark is for.
And the boutiques' orders. Boutique orders are sales orders that show whether the sizes are on the shelf while you're still typing, and margins are reported by product and by customer.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which fabric roll went into batch 27? | Maybe in the notebook | The batch's lots |
| Which boutiques got rompers from it? | Read the invoices | One report, lot to customer |
| The test report for each fabric | A folder | Batch record fields, signed off |
| 6–12 month rompers on the shelf | Count the bins | Stock by item and size |
Recipes, batches, lots, recalls and batch record forms are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.