Entrepreneurship, Costing and Care of Textiles
Enterprise and costing
The exam tests business-plan basics, cost build-up, pricing and textile care. A business plan covers product, market, competition, operations, finance and risk. Costing separates direct material, direct labour and overheads; add profit to reach selling price. Markup is on cost; margin is on selling price.
Care and labelling
Care labels use standard symbols for washing, bleaching, ironing, drying and dry cleaning. Fibre content, country of origin and care instructions support consumer safety and legal compliance. Stain removal should be matched to fibre: hot water can set protein stains; chlorine bleach damages wool and silk.
Worked example
A cushion cover has material ₹180, labour ₹60 and overhead ₹40: total cost ₹280. A 25% markup gives 280 × 1.25 = ₹350. A 25% margin gives 280 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = ₹373.33. Reasoning: markup and margin use different bases, so the same percentage gives different prices. Check break-even: if fixed costs are ₹7,000 and contribution per piece is ₹70, break-even = 100 pieces.
Traps
Do not add markup to selling price and call it margin. Do not use chlorine bleach on protein fibres. Do not ignore care-label symbols in costing - poor care instructions create returns. Fixed cost is not the same as overhead per unit.