Youth VS Adult: Why aren’t kid’s clothes less expensive?

By ShirtSpace | Aug 23, 2019 |  Updated Oct 23, 2020

When customers are on the hunt for both adult and youth size t-shirts, a question that frequently comes up is “Why aren't youth t-shirts less expensive than adult t-shirts?”

It’s a common misconception that because the actual size of the garment is smaller and the material used to make the apparel is less, that the cost would reflect that. But in reality, there’s more that goes into how these prices are factored.

First, the cost of the materials used to make the garment generally makes up 30 percent or less of the price charged. So, while a child’s t-shirt, pant, hoodie, etc. requires slightly less fabric or material, it is constructed in exactly the same way as an adult garment- so there’s not a huge amount of savings, except for a minimal amount on materials. For example, if a fabric is $2 a yard and an adult pair of jeans takes 2 to 3 yards to make while a child’s pair requires 1 to 2 yards, that’s only a $2 savings. T-shirts will use less material altogether, but you get the idea!

Second, when it comes to buying blank t-shirts, youth sizes are purchased much less frequently than adult blank apparel. Many manufacturers account for this and adjust their prices accordingly. After all, all of the costs that go into making, shipping and selling both youth and adult garments are the same (except for the minimal savings in materials for youth), so it’s no wonder manufacturers account for selling fewer youth sizes and build that into their cost.

Ultimately, there will be times that you find exceptions to this, but as a general rule of thumb, these are a couple of reasons why youth blank apparel is generally a little more expensive than adults sizes. Fortunately, the discrepancy in price is not huge, so you shouldn’t expect it to break the bank!