"Is embroidery profitable?" is a question with a frustrating answer: it depends on how you price and how you use your machine's time. The good news is that there's one number that makes it much easier to answer for your own business — profit per machine hour. This guide explains how to calculate it, how machine speed and stitch rates change it, and how to use it to choose between jobs.
Is machine embroidery profitable?
Machine embroidery can be profitable when your stitch rate, blank markup and fees cover your costs with room to spare for every hour your machine runs. The clearest test is profit per machine hour: an order's profit divided by the machine time it needs. In the example below, a 12-shirt order earns about $53.81 per machine hour.
Whether that's good depends on your costs, your market and how busy you are — but the number makes the comparison possible.
How do you calculate profit per machine hour?
Profit per machine hour = order profit ÷ machine hours
Machine hours = stitch count ÷ stitches per minute × quantity ÷ 60
Use your machine's real average speed, including trims, color changes and jumps — not the maximum speed on the spec sheet.
For a 12-shirt order with an 8,000-stitch design, priced at $1.00 per 1,000 stitches on an $8 blank with a 50% markup, plus a $40 digitizing fee:
- Order total: $280; costs: $157; profit: $123
- Machine time: 8,000 ÷ 700 spm ≈ 11.4 min per shirt → about 2.29 hours
- Profit per machine hour ≈ $53.81
How much to charge for embroidery shows how that quote and cost breakdown are built.
How does machine speed change your profit per hour?
The same order at different real average speeds:
| Average speed | Machine time for 12 shirts | Profit per machine hour |
|---|---|---|
| 500 stitches/min | 3.2 hours | $38.44 |
| 700 stitches/min | 2.29 hours | $53.81 |
| 900 stitches/min | 1.78 hours | $69.19 |
Speed doesn't change the order's profit, but it changes how much of your machine's day the order uses. Denser designs, frequent color changes and caps often run slower — cap embroidery commonly tops out at a lower stitch speed than flat-good embroidery on the same machine, since the extra layers of material on a cap front call for more stitch depth and higher thread tension — which is why they may justify a higher stitch rate.
How does your stitch rate change it?
Raising your rate from $1.00 to $1.25 per 1,000 stitches adds $2 per shirt on this design. Order profit rises from $123 to $147, and profit per machine hour from about $53.81 to about $64.31 — with no extra machine time at all. Small rate changes move this number a lot, which is why it's the best place to test your pricing.
How do you use profit per machine hour to choose jobs?
- Set a target. Decide what your machine needs to earn per hour to cover your time, the machine's cost and your goals.
- Check every quote. If a job falls below target, raise the price, add a minimum charge, or decline it when you're busy.
- Compare job types. Caps, jackets, towels and patches can earn very differently per machine hour — see how to price embroidered hats.
- Watch discounts. Bulk discounts often lower profit per machine hour, as shown in embroidery bulk pricing.
What costs can quietly reduce embroidery profit?
- Ruined blanks from hooping or stitching errors.
- Machine maintenance — needles, hooks, servicing and repairs.
- Thread and stabilizer waste.
- Time spent quoting and on revisions that never turn into orders.
Building these into your supplies cost or stitch rate keeps your profit figures honest.
