“How much should I charge?”
It’s the #1 question I get from freelance fashion designers.
But here’s the real answer: you can’t price anything until you ask the right questions.
Pricing isn’t about how many years you’ve been in fashion. It’s about:
- What kind of project it is
- What level of work is needed
- And what kind of value you’re delivering
It’s never just as simple as a design is $300 or a tech pack is $500 or a pattern is $1000.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the exact questions I gave a freelance fashion designer (who almost undercharged hard) and how you can use them to price your own projects.
If you’d rather watch, I cover all these strategies in this YouTube video.
The wrong way to price your freelance services in fashion (most people do this)
When a client asks how much you charge, don’t just share a price sheet or spit out your hourly or daily rate.
There’s a time when hourly or daily rates make sense, but I usually suggest this in the early days of your freelance business.
After a few projects, it’s best to move to flat rate pricing.
And when I say flat rate, I don’t mean $50/hr and a tech pack takes you 10hrs, so you should charge $500.
That’s hourly based pricing in disguise.
Instead, consider the value that your work delivers.
This pricing method can be more complicated to master, but you’ll attract better clients (and make more money) in the long run.
With value based pricing, you need to ask a lot more questions before you can give a price.
Let me share a quick story…
I was on a coaching call with a freelance fashion designer.
She’d worked in fashion for many years, but was new to freelancing.
(Even if you’re an experienced freelancer, keep reading, because I see this mistake everywhere.)
We’ll call her Becky.
Becky got a message on UpWork from a fashion brand that asked, “What’s your rate to design and create tech packs for 2 leggings and 2 sports bras?”
So, Becky asked me, “How much should I charge? I was thinking $500 per style.”
First, I told her that was wayyyyyy too low.
But second, I asked Becky if she had asked the brand any questions.
She hadn’t!
She explained that she could easily design 4 garments and do the tech packs in a week.
At $500/per style, that meant $2,000. And $2,000 felt good for a week’s worth of work!
While that may seem logical on paper, there’s actually so much more to it than that.
(And it very likely wouldn’t just be a week of work!)
So, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Becky.
Before you can figure out your prices, you need to ask the client (and yourself) a bunch of questions.
This is typically done via what’s called “discovery.”
The discovery process, often done via a discovery call, is where you “discover” more about the client, their needs, and how you can help.
Here are some questions you can ask during the discovery phase, and adapt depending on context and the project.
Questions to Ask Your Prospect on A Discovery Call
🙋♀️ What is the complexity of the project?
A t-shirt is very different from a ski jacket. Whether they need help with design, technical design, or product development, the amount of work involved would be vastly different for each garment. Even in less extreme examples, the complexity of a sports bra could vary a lot depending on design details, style lines, and any special features.
🙋♀️ How much help do they need?
Do they have an exact idea and you’re just helping execute it? Or are you starting with just a Pinterest board of inspo and are driving the entire vision? The workload is very different.
🙋♀️ What do they already have ready (or not)?
Do they need labels, hangtags, or packaging designed? Do they have their base POMs set, or do you need to create these from scratch? You need to know what you are (or aren’t) working with.
🙋♀️ What results do they want to achieve?
A tech pack for a proto from a sample sewer would look different from a production ready one for a factory. Without knowing the brand’s goals, it’s hard to know what they need and how much it should cost.
Ask Yourself These Before You Price Any Project
🙋♀️ What value will it deliver to the client?
You may think a client just needs 4 designs and 4 tech packs. But once you talk to them, you may learn that you’re actually helping launch a new brand, building foundational specs and standards for production, and creating their entire POV and story. That’s a very different amount of value (and a very different price) than *just* 4 designs and tech packs.
🙋♀️ What’s your skill level and expertise?
It’s much less about your “experience” (ie years you’ve worked) than it is about your skills and expertise. For example, if you’re hyper niche (which you should be!), you may build up a high level of expertise quickly, while doing more broad work will take longer to master. Consider the level of *skills* you bring to the table, and adjust your rates accordingly.
🙋♀️ What are you at in your freelance business?
One of my mentors, Ramit Sethi, once said year one is for learning, and year two is for earning. Once you learn (sometimes the hard way!) the fundamentals, then you can focus on maximizing revenue. But to start, focus on getting clients, doing an exceptional job, and learning as much as possible.
🙋♀️ What are your freelance goals?
I believe rates should be calculated more the value you bring than your own financial goals, but it is something to consider. Layer this into the way you set your rates, but don’t use it as the only factor.
🙋♀️ What would make the project feel worth it to you?
If the price gets so low you could resent the project (and the client), it’s a red flag. Only you can make this judgment call, but important to consider. Once you’ve asked all the right questions, and know exactly what the client needs, you need to feel confident you can do all that work for a price that feels good.
Once you have answers to these questions, you can come up with a much more accurate price that reflects the workload and the value you deliver.
Why Pricing is Like Sewing: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All
If you’re still unsure why pricing can’t be a one-size-fits-all, think of it like sewing a t-shirt.
You can technically explain it in one sentence: “cut fabric and stitch it together.”
But that’s useless without details like fabric type, machine, stitch length, tension, trims, etc.
The same is true with freelance pricing.
If you’re not asking the right questions, you’re not quoting the right price.
Learning how to sew, just like learning how to price, has a learning curve.
You can watch all the YouTube videos and read all the tutorials, but you learn by doing.
So get those first few projects, learn a ton, and keep iterating.
In the meantime, check out some of my other free resources on pricing and freelancing in fashion
- 5 Steps to Freelancing in Fashion (From a Designer Who Made $100K+ ← that’s me!)
- Freelance Price Sheet (just for fashion) (I know I said you can’t just pull prices off a price sheet! But this will give you some ranges to consider!)
- 100+ Real Life Rates from Freelance Fashion Designers from around the world (and TDs, PDs, textile designer, pattern makers, and beyond)
- Watch my YouTube video, The Correct Way to Price Your Freelance Projects in Fashion
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