To price golf apparel, start with the landed cost per sellable garment. Then calculate what your brand keeps when it sells the garment on its own website and what both parties earn when it sells through a golf pro shop. If you plan to use both channels, run both calculations before approving your production quote.
Here’s a worked example. A golf polo with a $72 suggested retail price and an $18 landed cost can support a $36 wholesale price if both the brand and the pro shop target 50% gross margin at full price. If freight, duties, and other inbound costs total $4 per sellable polo, the brand’s maximum FOB cost is $14 under those assumptions.
| Pricing decision | Result in this example |
|---|---|
| Suggested retail price | $72.00 |
| Maximum wholesale price at a 50% pro shop gross margin | $36.00 |
| Maximum landed cost at a 50% brand wholesale gross margin | $18.00 |
| Maximum FOB cost with $4 in inbound costs | $14.00 |
All figures are in U.S. dollars per sellable polo. Prices exclude sales tax. The costs and margin targets are illustrative.
Step 1. Calculate Landed Cost per Sellable Polo
Landed cost per sellable unit = Total cost to bring the shipment into inventory ÷ Expected sellable units
Start with your supplier quote and confirm which packaging, origin charges, and other services it includes. Add the inbound costs your brand pays separately, such as international freight, import duties, brokerage, inspection, and delivery to your warehouse. Count each charge once. Use expected sellable units as the denominator if some units are reserved for samples or otherwise unavailable for sale.
In the example, $14 FOB + $4 in inbound costs = $18 landed per polo, assuming one sellable unit per unit purchased. If a supplier quotes $14 for 300 polos, inbound charges total $1,200, and only 290 polos are available to sell, the effective landed cost rises to $18.62 per sellable unit.
For U.S. orders, confirm the applicable classification and duties with your customs broker before locking in a price. Product details, origin, and applicable tariff measures can affect the estimate. The official reference is the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
Keep outbound fulfillment, payment processing, and customer acquisition in your channel calculations. If you need to understand why the factory quote changed, see FUWAY’s golf polo manufacturing cost breakdown.
Step 2. Set Your DTC Price Using Contribution per Sale
Your website price has to cover the polo and the costs of selling it. Start with the realized selling price after discounts. Subtract landed cost and the variable costs associated with each sale.
DTC contribution per unit = Realized selling price − Landed cost − Variable selling costs
DTC Example at Full Price and During a Promotion
| Per polo | Full price | 20% off |
|---|---|---|
| Realized selling price | $72.00 | $57.60 |
| Landed cost | $18.00 | $18.00 |
| Payment fee at 3% | $2.16 | $1.73 |
| Outbound fulfillment and shipping | $6.00 | $6.00 |
| Expected return-related cost | $3.00 | $3.00 |
| Customer acquisition allocated per polo | $15.00 | $15.00 |
| Contribution before fixed overhead | $27.84 | $14.87 |
The example assumes a one-polo order, brand-paid outbound shipping, and the same acquisition and return costs in both scenarios. In your own model, include expected return-related losses once. If expected refunds are already deducted from revenue, avoid adding the same refunds again as a cost.
At $72, the polo has a 75% product gross margin before the selling costs shown above. The brand has $27.84 per sale left to cover fixed overhead and profit. A 20% discount cuts that contribution to $14.87. If your target is at least $20 per sale, the promotion falls short under these assumptions.
With a percentage-based payment fee and fixed dollar costs per sale, you can calculate your price floor directly:
Minimum realized DTC price = (Landed cost + Other variable costs per sale + Target contribution) ÷ (1 − Payment fee rate)
Here, the floor is ($18 + $6 + $3 + $15 + $20) ÷ 0.97 = $63.92. Use that figure to test the selling price a customer actually pays after any discount.
Step 3. Calculate Your Golf Pro Shop Wholesale Price
A wholesale price has to work for two businesses. The pro shop needs room between its purchase price and what golfers actually pay. Your brand needs room between its wholesale revenue and the cost of supplying the order.
Calculate the Pro Shop’s Maximum Buy Price
Maximum wholesale price = Expected retail selling price × (1 − Pro shop target gross margin)
At a $72 retail selling price and 50% target gross margin, the shop can pay up to $36 per polo. At that price, the shop earns $36 in gross profit per polo before its own operating costs. The calculation assumes $36 is the shop’s full unit cost. If the shop also pays inbound freight, allow for that expense when setting the wholesale quote.
If the shop later sells the polo for $60, its gross profit falls to $24, and its gross margin drops to 40%. If it expects to sell most units at $60 and still requires a 50% gross margin, its maximum buy price drops to $30. Use the shop’s expected selling price when negotiating the order. For the general calculation, see Shopify’s wholesale pricing guide.
Calculate Your Brand’s Wholesale Margin and Contribution
Brand wholesale gross margin = (Net wholesale revenue − Landed cost) ÷ Net wholesale revenue
At $36 wholesale and $18 landed, your brand earns $18 gross profit per polo, or 50% gross margin. If you also pay $1.50 per polo for outbound freight and a 5% sales commission ($1.80), your wholesale contribution falls to $14.70 per polo before fixed overhead.
At $30 wholesale, the same $18 landed polo delivers 40% brand gross margin. If your brand requires 50%, the $30 wholesale price supports a maximum landed cost of $15. That $3 difference gives you a concrete decision to make before accepting the order.
Step 4. Work Backward to Your Maximum FOB Quote
Once you know what the pro shop can pay, calculate how much your brand can spend to produce and land the garment.
- Find your wholesale price ceiling. Multiply the shop’s expected selling price by one minus its target gross margin.
- Find your landed-cost ceiling. Multiply your net wholesale price by one minus your brand’s target wholesale gross margin.
- Find your FOB ceiling. Subtract the remaining inbound cost per unit from your landed-cost ceiling. This shortcut assumes each purchased unit is sellable and that inbound costs can be estimated independently of the FOB price.
| Working backward from the selling price | Shop expects to sell at $72 | Shop expects to sell at $60 |
|---|---|---|
| Pro shop target gross margin | 50% | 50% |
| Maximum wholesale price | $36.00 | $30.00 |
| Brand target wholesale gross margin | 50% | 50% |
| Maximum landed cost | $18.00 | $15.00 |
| Assumed non-FOB inbound cost | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| Maximum FOB quote | $14.00 | $11.00 |
If an import charge changes with the declared value, recalculate it at the proposed quote and check the resulting landed cost against your ceiling. If commissions, freight allowances, or other wholesale selling costs are substantial, also check your minimum contribution after those costs. A quote can meet the gross margin target and still leave too little contribution.
Step 5. Validate the Price Before Approving Production
Compare your planned selling price with polos your target customer can buy through the same channel. Look at comparable fabric, fit, and features, and record the actual selling price when a product is regularly discounted. If you’re deciding how to separate entry, core, and premium styles across a collection, see FUWAY’s guide to building golf polo product tiers.
Before committing to production, run three scenarios for the same style:
| Scenario | What to test |
|---|---|
| Full-price launch | Can both the website and the pro shop meet their targets at the planned selling price? |
| Promotion or markdown | How low can your website price go? What happens to the pro shop’s margin when it marks the polo down? |
| Smaller first order | How do the revised FOB quote, per-unit inbound costs, and number of sellable polos affect the price floor? |
If the quote exceeds your cost ceiling, identify what you can change while keeping the features customers are paying for. Ask the factory to price the same specification at two quantities, or compare clearly defined options for fabric, decoration, or packaging. Keep the quote terms consistent so you can see which change actually brings the cost down.
Frequently Asked Questions
What markup should I use for golf apparel?
Use a markup that supports your channel costs and the price your customers will pay. At a $72 selling price and an $18 landed cost, the selling price is 4× landed cost, the markup on cost is 300%, and the product gross margin is 75%. Contribution will be lower once you include variable selling costs.
What is the difference between FOB cost and landed cost?
An FOB quote gives you the supplier’s price under the agreed shipping terms. Landed cost adds the expenses your brand incurs to get the shipment into inventory, such as freight, duties, and brokerage. Confirm what the quote includes before adding those charges.
Can I sell the same golf polo through my website and pro shops?
Yes, if the price supports both channels. Check your own contribution at the prices you expect customers to pay and calculate the shop’s margin at its expected selling price. If you run frequent website promotions, discuss the timing and expected price range with your retail partners before they commit to inventory.
What if my supplier’s quote is higher than my maximum FOB cost?
Recheck the quote scope and inbound estimates first. Then price a specific change in quantity, fabric, trim, decoration, or packaging. If the resulting quote still exceeds the ceiling, revisit the selling price or channel plan before placing the order.
Conclusion
Set your retail price, wholesale price, and factory cost ceiling before placing a production order. In the example, a $72 selling price supports $36 wholesale, $18 landed, and $14 FOB under the stated assumptions. If the pro shop expects to sell at $60 and both parties keep the same margin targets, the FOB ceiling falls to $11. That difference tells you whether to adjust the product specification, the order quantity, or the channel plan.
If you’re developing a golf polo, send FUWAY your target retail price, intended sales channels, first-order quantity, and product specifications. Include your target FOB cost if you’ve calculated it, so we can review which production options fit your price plan.
