Discover the freedom
of running an embroidery business!
- Low start-up costs
You can start an embroidery business for less than $15k. - Minimal learning curve
Stitch It International provides training and support. - Easy-to-sell products
Embroidered garments are always in demand, online and off. - Excellent profit margins and ROI
Watch your income soar.
- Explore your creative side
There’s so much to design and combine. - Work from home
Our single-head machines are small enough to fit just about anywhere. - Low operating costs
Supply and maintenance costs for our machines are almost negligible.
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How much money can I make with an embroidery machine?
This is a familiar question for beginners in the embroidery industry. Here’s a couple examples of your income potential, using two popular products – polo shirts and baseball caps.
Potential cashflow with baseball caps
Let’s break those numbers down
Hat: $2.50
Embroidery Supplies: $0.10
Total material costs: $2.60
A finished embroidered cap can sell for around $18.
Tell Me More About Custom Caps
The wholesale cost of a cap is around $2.50, and the cost of embroidery supplies is about $0.10 per cap.
For production time, it will take approximately 5 minutes per cap at 1,000 stitches per minute. At this rate, you can produce
10 caps per hour. In an 8-hour day, that’s approximately 80 caps. In a 20-day month (weekends and holidays off), you can
produce 1,600 caps.
There are, of course, other costs to consider:
- The hourly rate you’re paying any sales staff – usually in the $8-14/hr range
- The machine cost – around $12,900 + shipping (for the E-T1501C)
- Electricity use
- Replacement oil and needles –approximate annual cost of $300
You can utilize the embroidery machine without a down payment, with a lease sum of roughly $280/month. Once you factor
in the cost of materials, the machine, wages, etc., the cost to produce a cap is around $6. Again, these caps can easily sell for
$18 or more.
After factoring in costs, we get a profit of $12/per cap. Previously, we stated you can produce around 1,600 caps per month
with one single-head SWF embroidery machine, bringing your average profit per month to around $19,200.
After your monthly lease payment, your monthly profit is still an average of $18,920.
Return on investment
Single-head machine and caps
Total cost | $6/cap |
Selling price | $18/cap |
Total profit | $12/cap |
Monthly profit | $19,200 |
Lease payment expense | $19,200 – $280 = $18,920 |
Annual profit | $227,040 |
Sell 1,000 caps based on this number, and the SWF single head machine will pay for itself!
Let’s run those same numbers if you were to upgrade to an SWF 6-head machine.

6-head machine and caps
Daily production | 480 caps |
Monthly production | 9,600 caps |
Total cost | $6/cap |
Selling price | $18/cap |
Total profit | $12/cap |
Monthly profit | $115,200 |
Lease payment expense | $115,200 – $982 = $114,218 |
Annual profit | $1,370,616 |
Using the numbers above, a 6-head SWF embroidery machine would pay for itself when you sold about 3,650 pieces!

Custom polo shirts and profits
Let’s break those numbers down
Polo shirt cost: $25
Embroidery supplies: $0.10
Wages, rent, etc.: $2.80
Total cost per shirt: $27.90
Tell Me More About Custom Polo Shirts
Higher end polo shirts cost around $25 wholesale. Using the same numbers and averages as above for embroidery jobs, the cost for supplies is approximately $0.10 per shirt. These finished shirts typically sell for approximately $50 each making your profit per shirt $24.90.
Using these numbers, let’s see what your profit would be with just one single-head SWF embroidery machine.
Return on investment
Single-head machine and polo shirts
Total cost | $27.90/ shirt |
Selling price | $50/ shirt |
Total profit | $22.10/ shirt |
Monthly profit | $35,360 |
Lease payment expense | $35,360 – $280 = $35,080 |
Annual profit | $420,960 |
Again, let’s calculate these same numbers if you were to upgrade to an SWF 6-head embroidery machine.

6-head machine and caps
Total cost | $27.90/ shirt |
Selling price | $50/ shirt |
Total profit | $22.10/ shirt |
Monthly profit | $212,160 |
Lease payment expense | $212,160 – $982 = $211,178 |
Annual profit | $2,534,136 |
Starting an embroidery business can be a profitable venture, and your SWF embroidery machine has the potential to pay for itself in a very short amount of time!


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