One hundred and eighty polos for a company anniversary, and five suppliers who all said yes.
The purchasing officer did what a careful buyer does. She messaged five of them, described what she wanted — company polos with the logo embroidered, good quality, delivered before the last week of the month — and put the replies into a spreadsheet with two columns: supplier, and price per piece. The gap between the lowest number and the highest was close to forty percent. She took the lowest.
What arrived was a lighter shirt than the one she had pictured, carrying a printed logo rather than a stitched one. Along the way there had been a setup charge for the artwork, a delivery fee, and a per-piece surcharge on the twenty-two people who wear 2XL and above. Added up and divided out, the cheapest quote had not been the cheapest.
The five numbers were never five prices for the same shirt. They were five different shirts, and her sheet had no column for that.
You cannot compare quotations you have not first made comparable. That work belongs to the buyer, and it takes about an hour.
Why five quotes are never five prices for the same thing
A canvass usually starts with one short message sent five times. That message is where the problem is made.
"Company polos, 180 pieces, with our logo" is a complete sentence and an incomplete specification. It does not say which fabric, at what weight, decorated by which method, in how many positions, at what logo size, across which size range. Five suppliers reading that message will fill every one of those gaps, because they have to in order to produce a number at all — and each will fill them with their own defaults. One quotes the polyester blend they buy by the roll. One quotes the heavier honeycomb they keep for corporate accounts. One assumes a printed logo because it is faster and cheaper and most enquiries at that quantity turn out to want it.
None of them is being dishonest. Each is answering the question that was actually asked.
A gap between two quotes is usually a specification gap with a peso sign in front of it. Close the specification and most of the gap closes with it.
The instinct at this point is to read harder — to go back to each supplier and ask them to justify their number. That puts you in five separate arguments about five different products, which is exhausting and settles nothing. The fix is upstream of the quotes, not inside them.
It is worth understanding why the numbers move so much, because the movement is not arbitrary. Decoration method sets the band first, fabric moves the price within it, and the garment's construction applies last — the full pricing hierarchy is set out in the pricing guide, and it explains why the same polo shape can honestly carry two very different numbers. This article is about the step after that one: what to do when you are holding five of them.
The rule worth carrying: before comparing quotations, confirm they are quoting the same specification — a price difference between suppliers is usually a product difference you have not been shown.
Figure
Re-level first: one specification, sent to everyone, word for word
The highest-leverage hour in any canvass is the one spent writing the specification once and pasting the identical text to every supplier.
Identical matters more than complete. A brief that is missing something is still comparable if it is missing the same thing for everybody; a brief that is reworded between suppliers is not comparable even when each version is thorough. How to brief a uniform supplier covers what a complete brief contains and why each item changes the number. For a canvass, add one rule on top of it: send the same words.
Seven things the levelled specification has to fix:
1. The garment and its construction. Round neck, collared polo, jacket, custom-sewn pattern. These are different builds, not variations on one.
2. The fabric and its GSM. Name both. "Good quality fabric" is not a specification, it is a compliment. If you do not know which fabric you want, the fabric guide explains what each one does in Philippine conditions — pick one for the purpose of levelling the canvass, and treat the choice as revisable.
3. The decoration method and the number of positions. Embroidery, DTF, and sublimation are three different production processes with three different cost structures; the methods guide sets out which suits which fabric. State how many positions you want decorated — left chest only, or left chest plus a sleeve, or plus a back — because the second position is a separate line on any honest quote.
4. The logo size and placement. An embroidered logo is priced partly by its size. "Our logo, left chest, about three inches wide" is quotable. "Our logo" is not. If you are not certain which artwork file you actually own, preparing a logo file covers what each decoration method needs and where to find your original when nobody can locate it — sending the same file to everyone is part of sending the same specification.
5. The quantity, with the size breakdown. Include the extended sizes explicitly. This is the item buyers most often leave for later, and it is the one most likely to produce a surprise line on the final invoice.
6. The date, and which date it is. Your event date and your delivery date are different dates, and a supplier needs to know which one they are protecting. Every quoted production window starts at artwork approval, not at enquiry, so state your approval date too if you can.
7. Where it is being delivered. Delivery is quoted separately by most manufacturers, and it cannot be quoted at all without an address.
Then add one line at the end that costs you nothing and improves every reply: "Please quote this exact specification. If you would recommend something different, quote that separately as a second option." You get one levelled comparison and five pieces of expert opinion, cleanly separated instead of tangled together.
The rule worth carrying: send every supplier the same words, and ask each of them to quote your specification first and their recommendation second.
Bring every quote to the same unit: landed cost per piece
A levelled brief gets you five comparable products. Converting the replies to one unit gets you five comparable numbers.
The unit is landed cost per piece: everything you will actually pay, divided by everything you will actually receive. It is arithmetic, not negotiation, and it can be done on paper in ten minutes once the quotes are in.
Six adjustments to make before ranking anything:
1. VAT status. Inclusive or exclusive. A VAT-exclusive number looks about twelve percent better than it is, and two quotes stated on different bases cannot be ranked against each other at all.
2. Delivery. Add it in as a total, then divide it across the pieces. A quote with "free delivery" folded into a higher per-piece price is not cheaper; it is the same money, differently placed.
3. Setup and digitizing. The one-time charge for rebuilding your logo as a machine file. It does not appear on a per-piece number and it does not scale with quantity, which means it lands hardest on small orders. Ask whether it is charged, and how much.
4. Decoration positions beyond the first. Confirm how many positions the headline number covers. If your design has a chest logo and a sleeve mark, a quote covering one position is quoting a different garment than the one you will receive.
5. Extended sizes. Ask directly whether sizes above XL carry a surcharge, and get the answer in writing. On an order with twenty-two people in 2XL and above, a per-size step is not a rounding error.
6. What is included that you would otherwise pay for. Mockups, revision rounds, a physical sew-out sample before the run, individual name embroidery. These differ between suppliers more than the per-piece price does.
Then divide by the pieces you will actually use. If a supplier's minimum obliges you to buy more than you need, the pieces sitting in a box are part of your cost — minimums and what to do when your number falls under one is a decision worth making before the canvass rather than during it.
The rule worth carrying: rank suppliers on landed cost per piece — everything you will pay, divided by everything you will receive — never on the headline per-piece figure.
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The line items that sit outside the headline number
This is the section with the money in it. Everything above is method; the figures here are what to hold the method against, and they are what BNC Customs charges.
Setup and digitizing. Turning a logo into an embroidery file is real work — somebody rebuilds it stitch by stitch, decides how dense the fill runs, and tests it on the actual fabric before a single garment is made. Across the Philippine industry it is billed at ₱500 to ₱1,000 per design, more for complicated artwork, and that price is fair for what it takes.
We do not charge it. Not on a first order, not above some quantity, not as a promotion with an end date.
The reason is plain enough. A setup fee is the last thing standing between a careful buyer and finding out whether a supplier is any good — you are asked to pay before you have held anything we made. We would rather you spend nothing to see the stitching and decide from there. When you canvass, ask each supplier whether digitizing is on their quote. A quote that omits the line and a quote that never had one are different things, and only one of them stays absent on the invoice.
Decoration positions. An extra embroidery position beyond the first — sleeve or back — is +₱40. An extra DTF print position is +₱50. Individual name embroidery is +₱50 per piece. Embroidery itself runs ₱60 for a name or single-colour mark, ₱100 for a 3×3 inch logo, and ₱200 and up for a large one.
Extended sizes. There is no plus-size surcharge here, ever, on any garment. S through 5XL is one price. A per-size step above XL is common enough in the market that it is worth asking every supplier about explicitly — on an order with a real spread of sizes it moves the landed cost more than most buyers expect.
VAT and delivery. Every figure on this page is VAT-inclusive, with delivery quoted separately. Ask each supplier to state both the same way before you compare anything.
Where the levelled numbers should land. For an embroidered corporate polo in honeycomb at 280–300gsm, the band is ₱550 to ₱750 per piece, depending on whether the polo is plain or custom-designed and how many logos it carries. A full-sublimation collared polo is ₱500 below fifty pieces and ₱450 at fifty and above. A plain cotton round neck is ₱200; the same round neck with one DTF print is ₱250. The complete price list, including jackets, scrubs, jerseys and caps, is in the pricing guide.
The cheapest way to settle a disputed specification. Order one piece. A sample runs at the same per-unit list price as the production item, with no surcharge and no setup fee, and takes three to five days. When two quotes sit close together and you cannot tell from a screen which fabric you are being offered, a sample answers it in a week for the price of a shirt.
Pricing verified: September 2026.
The rule worth carrying: ask every supplier the same four questions the headline number never answers — setup, extra positions, extended sizes, and delivery.
Reading the spread
Once the quotes are levelled and converted, the shape of the numbers tells you something on its own.
A tight cluster. If the landed costs sit within roughly ten percent of each other, your specification did its job and the market has told you what this order costs. Price has stopped being the deciding factor, which is good news — it means you get to decide on everything else.
One number far below the rest. This is a question, not a bargain, and three different things produce it. It may be a genuinely different product that survived your levelling — a lighter fabric substituted quietly, a smaller logo, a printed mark where you specified a stitched one. It may be a number that will move later, once the specification you actually want surfaces after the downpayment. Or it may be a structural difference in who is quoting you: a trader who subcontracts adds a margin on top of a factory price you never see, so either the number rises or the shirt quietly degrades to protect that margin. Ask what fabric and GSM it covers, how many positions, and what is excluded. Any of the three answers is useful.
One number far above the rest. Sometimes the supplier has quoted a heavier specification than you asked for, which is a conversation worth having rather than a reason to discard them. Sometimes they have priced in the risk of your date — a supplier who tells you honestly that your timeline is tight, and prices accordingly, is more useful than one who agrees to everything. And sometimes it is simply a shop whose costs are higher. Ask which.
A quote that arrives with no questions attached. Worth noticing wherever it sits in the spread. A supplier who reads a full specification and comes back with a number and nothing else has built a production plan on assumptions you have not seen. The follow-up questions a supplier asks tell you more about how they run production than any portfolio photo does.
The rule worth carrying: an outlier is a question before it is a bargain — ask which specification produced it before treating the difference as a saving.
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When the landed costs are close, the decision is not about price
Most well-run canvasses end here: three or four numbers within a few percent of each other, and no arithmetic left to do. What decides it now is which supplier can be held to what they wrote.
Who runs the machines. Whether the company quoting you owns the production or passes your order to someone else is the single fact most likely to determine whether the rest of the quote holds. It is also checkable — how to verify a supplier's structure from the outside sets out the questions that get honest answers.
The production window, in writing, counted from artwork approval. Not "around a week." A date, with the starting condition named. A supplier who commits to a window and explains what has to be true before it starts is describing a real schedule; one who quotes a number with no starting condition is describing a hope.
What happens when something is wrong. Ask before you order, not after delivery: what is the process for a defect, a wrong size, a colour that came out off. The inspection you should run before accepting delivery is the other half of that question, and it is a much easier conversation to have while you are still choosing.
The payment structure and the paperwork. Fifty percent downpayment to start production, balance before release, is the standard structure — and it is worth knowing what the downpayment commits and what happens if the order is cancelled. If you are buying for a company, a school, a cooperative or an LGU, ask whether an Official Receipt is issued. We issue one on every order, and for most institutional buyers no amount of good pricing survives an accounting department that cannot release funds without one. Payment terms are covered in full here, including the terms that are not offered.
On showing one supplier another supplier's number. You do not need to hide that you are canvassing; everyone quoting you assumes three or four others are doing the same. What is worth not doing is circulating a named competitor's quote to force a match. A number dropped under that kind of pressure has to come out of something, and what it comes out of is the fabric, the schedule, or the attention your order gets on a busy week — none of which appear on the revised quote. Tell a supplier the specification you are comparing on and ask whether they can meet it. The ones who can will say so; the ones who cannot will tell you why, and that answer is worth more than the discount.
The rule worth carrying: when two landed costs sit within a few percent of each other, the decision is no longer about price — it is about which supplier can be held to what they put in writing.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare uniform quotes from different suppliers in the Philippines? Make them comparable before you compare them. Write one specification — garment, fabric and GSM, decoration method and positions, quantity with sizes, and the date — and send the identical text to every supplier. Then convert each reply to landed cost per piece: everything you will actually pay, divided by everything you will actually receive. Only then are the numbers describing the same thing.
How many suppliers should I canvass for a uniform order? Three to five is the working range most Philippine buyers use, and it is enough. Below three you have no sense of the market band. Above five, the canvass starts costing more in your own time than it saves, and the replies arrive too far apart to compare in one sitting. What improves a canvass is not more suppliers — it is sending all of them the same specification.
Should I ask every supplier for the same fabric and GSM when canvassing? Yes, and name it explicitly. A quote against "good quality polo fabric" is a quote against whatever that supplier usually stocks, which differs between them. Name the fabric and its GSM, ask everyone to price that, then ask separately what they would recommend instead. You get one levelled comparison plus five pieces of expert opinion, cleanly separated.
What hidden costs should I look for in a custom uniform quote? Four categories sit outside most headline per-piece numbers: setup or digitizing for the artwork, decoration positions beyond the first, a surcharge on extended sizes above XL, and delivery. Add VAT status as a fifth check, since a VAT-exclusive number looks about twelve percent better than it is. Ask every supplier all five, in writing, before you rank anything.
What should I do when one quote is far below all the others? Treat it as a question, not a saving. Ask three things: what fabric and GSM is this, how many decoration positions does it cover, and what is excluded. Usually the answer is that it is a genuinely different product — a lighter fabric or a printed logo where you pictured a stitched one. Occasionally it is a number that will move after the downpayment. Both are worth knowing before you decide.
Should I tell a supplier what another supplier quoted me? You do not need to hide that you are canvassing — everyone assumes it. What is worth avoiding is passing around a named competitor's quote to force a match. A number matched under pressure has to come out of something, and what it comes out of is usually the fabric or the schedule. Tell them the specification you are comparing on and ask whether they can meet it.
Is it fair to ask a supplier to re-quote after I change the specification? It is normal and expected. A revised specification is a different job, and any supplier who runs their own production can re-price it in a day. What is not fair to anyone is comparing an old quote against a new specification, which is how buyers end up feeling misled by a number that was accurate when it was given.
Continue your research
Send a brief that comes back comparable:
- How to brief a uniform supplier — the eight elements of a complete brief, and what a supplier's follow-up questions reveal about their production.
- Preparing your logo file — which file each decoration method needs, and what to do when the only copy you have came off your own website.
- Fabric options for Philippine conditions — how to name a fabric and a GSM instead of describing a feeling.
- Embroidery, DTF, and sublimation compared — the three production methods, and which fabric each one belongs on.
Understand what the numbers are made of:
- What custom uniforms cost in the Philippines — the full price list, and the hierarchy that explains why quotes differ.
- Minimum order quantities and the sample path — why minimums exist, and how to test a supplier before committing to a run.
- Payment terms explained — the downpayment, what it commits, and the paperwork institutional buyers need.
Check the supplier behind the number:
- How to choose a custom uniform supplier — the questions that separate a manufacturer from a middleman.
- In-house versus subcontracted production — why a supplier who does not control production cannot control your price either.
- The true cost of a late uniform delivery — the arithmetic that turns a cheap quote into an expensive one.
Hold the schedule you were quoted:
- Custom uniform production timeline — what a quoted turnaround actually measures, and how to work backwards from a fixed date.
- Quality control before you accept delivery — the inspection that confirms you received the specification you compared on.
A canvass is not a hunt for the smallest number. It is the work of turning several different answers into one question, then asking it properly. Do that first and the decision usually makes itself — and whichever supplier you choose, you will know what you bought before it arrives.