Our Pricing Breakdown

When I started Pump Pocket, I knew I wanted to offer the best product for your buck in two ways: by using the best materials and ensuring the best workmanship, proudly and ethically made right here in Ontario, Canada.

The traditional fashion industry, however, is built on a model that is neither ethical nor sustainable. The next time you wander into a fast-fashion retailer, have a look at the price tag. If a pair of boxer-briefs costs, for example, $10.00, you can quickly calculate the maximum amount what it cost to make using a simple calculation:

Traditional Retail = Cost of Production x 2 (wholesale price) x 2

if follows then that: 

Cost of Production = $10 / 2 / 2 = $2.50 

The following illustration depicts a possible price breakdown for a fictional fast-fashion brand:

Therefore a $10 pair of boxer briefs cost a maximum of $2.50 to make. In order to achieve this low price, brands would need to produce 1000's of units to achieve such a low price. In the industry, this threshold of production is also called Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ).

Even worse, fast-fashion brands know that they won't sell all that they make, but the lower price acquired by these high MOQs mean that they only need to sell a portion of what they make in order to make a profit.  What happens to the excess? Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up in countries of the Developing-World.

At first though, you might think that donation to those less fortunate is a good solution to this excess. The problem is that the quality of the clothes is so bad that it doesn't last. Consequently, after a very short life, these garments end up in landfills or even worse.  According to an article by Ecowatch (1) , there are thousands of tonnes of discarded clothes making new dunes in the Atacama Desert of Chile. These clothes were meant to be re-sold in Chile, but many end up discarded in the dessert. The fibre content of many of these clothes are not bio-degradable even in an organic environment as they have a high content of polyester.  In a desert that is so dry that even organic material does not decay, these discarded clothes will be there forever.  It's sad, but true.

The other issue that plagues the fashion industry is that of cheap labour.  Cheap labour is a necessary calculation in their business model. In order to sell a garment for $10.00 at such high MOQ, calculating-in waste (amount of garments not sold), the cost of labour has to be incredibly low to make it profitable. I think we have all heard whispers about sweat shops, child and slave labour tied to brands.  Most people will remember the tragedy of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013 (1). It is true that brands may or may not be aware of their own supply chain because of subcontracting out to smaller, non-ethical factories. If brands have a difficulty keeping track of their own supply-chain, it is almost impossible for consumers to find out who made their clothes. Account in cheap sub-contracting, it is possible that the cost of manufacturing can lower their cost of production even less. 

We, as consumers, are so used to this fast-fashion strategy, that it has become expected and normal. Unfortunately, this business is not sustainable. At best, it is incredibly wasteful. At best, it encourages terrible working conditions.

In contrast, ethically-made-in-Canada brands (like Pump Pocket) must use an entirely different calculation and business model. If they use eco-friendly materials, and choose to manufacture in North America, the traditional calculation requiring crazy MOQ and a retail price that is at least 4X the cost of production cost, would be out of reach for most consumers. The only way this calculation would work is if the brand is in the luxury bracket. While there is nothing wrong with producing luxury, at Pump Pocket, we have chosen to make our products as affordable as possible, while maintaining ethics and quality. This calculation is not original to us, as other made-in-Canada brands have and do use this model to do business.

The new calculation that we have chosen to adopt is exemplified in the illustration below, depicting the actual cost breakdown for our Men's Boxer Base Wear. 

As you can see from this illustration, we have chosen the following critera for our business model:

1. As much as possible, we choose to use super-soft Eco-friendly fabric that is chemical free and gentle on sensitive skin.

2. We manufacture in Canada, where workers are paid a living wage.

3. We took many, many hours to design our garments intuitively so they work well for your needs.

4. Instead of relying on boring and annoying advertising, we have decided to allow you, our favourite customers, to reap some reward for helping us to spread the word about our products with our Pocket Points Referral Program. 

5. We have cut out the traditional wholesale pricing, which is why we have chosen to exclusively sell from our online store.

We know our products are expensive and D-families are already burdened with the cost of diabetes care.  We do our best to bring you the best bang for your buck by supporting you with an exceptional product and customer support.

 

(1) https://www.ecowatch.com/chile-desert-fast-fashion-2655551898.html 

(2) https://www.cnn.com/style/article/rana-plaza-garment-worker-rights-accord/index.html