07/26/2026
I could use your help.
A customer called recently with what sounded like a fairly simple problem.
She needed a better way to quote apparel jobs.
Not because she didn’t know her pricing. Not because she didn’t understand the work.
The problem was everything surrounding the calculation.
A customer asks, “How much for 36 shirts?”
So she checks the garment cost. Finds the right pricing sheet. Counts colors and print locations. Quotes it out two different ways: Screen Print and Direct to Film to see what makes more sense. Adds shipping. Checks the margin. Then turns all of that into something presentable for the customer.
If the customer approves it, much of the same information gets entered again to prepare a purchase order for whoever will produce the job.
It works.
But like many processes inside small, growing, and home-based apparel businesses, it works because the owner has learned how to hold together a collection of spreadsheets, calculators, old quotes, pricing sheets, supplier websites, memory, and other disconnected tools.
Her original request was smaller than what we ultimately built.
At first, I thought we were creating a quick calculator to help one customer compare the production cost of Screen Print and Direct to Film.
Then we started following the job through the rest of the process.
The garment cost still matters.
Markup still matters.
Shipping still matters.
The customer needs a Quote.
The supplier needs a purchase order.
Some businesses offer Screen Print. Some use Direct to Film. Some need to compare both. Every shop has its own pricing, vendors, minimums, payment methods, and way of doing business.
Somewhere along the way, I realized this wasn’t really one customer’s problem.
We have more than 17,000 transfer customers. We work with brokers, decorators, home-based businesses, established print shops, and people who started by making shirts for friends and family.
A lot of them are running some version of the same duct-taped process.
And most don’t need—or want—a complicated ERP system.
They just need a better way to quote the whole job.
So that’s what this became.
The Production Quote Tool can:
• Build a complete customer Quote
• Calculate Screen Print production cost
• Calculate Direct to Film production cost
• Compare both production methods when needed
• Show the cost and margin for each option
• Prepare a supplier purchase order
• Include garments, decoration, shipping, tax, and payment information
• Use your company name, logo, pricing, vendors, and business settings
The generated Quote belongs to your business.
Your logo. Your pricing. Your customer.
The tool runs in the browser, can be installed like an app (desktop or mobile), and keeps its settings on your device.
Your quoting tool—and it’s free.
We’re getting ready to put it in the hands of a small group of beta testers, and I’d genuinely like to know whether we got it right.
If you run an apparel business, try using it to quote a real job.
Where does it save you time?
What feels confusing?
What did we miss?
And—most importantly—would you use it again the next time someone asks:
“How much for 36 shirts?”
Try it here:
https://altdtf.com/pages/tools/quote/
I’d appreciate the feedback.
Create branded apparel quotes, calculate production costs, and prepare supplier purchase orders for Screen Print, Direct to Film, or both.
