Entrepreneurship, Costing and Career Awareness
What this domain tests
Entrepreneurship, Costing and Career Awareness tests whether you can cost a garment, set a price, keep simple records, and identify tailoring careers. Questions cover fixed and variable costs, wastage, profit, break-even, market survey, and customer service.
Core rules
- Prepare a cost sheet: fabric, lining, thread, buttons, zips, trims, labour, and overheads such as rent, electricity, machine depreciation, and transport.
- Fixed costs do not change with the number of pieces (rent); variable costs rise per piece (fabric, thread, piece-rate labour).
- Include wastage and testing charges. Price must cover total cost plus profit. Profit on cost = percentage of cost; margin on selling price = profit divided by selling price.
- Break-even quantity = fixed cost ÷ contribution per piece, where contribution = selling price − variable cost per piece.
- Keep a cash book, bill book, measurement register, and stock list. Survey local demand, sizes, colours, and competitor prices before launching.
- Careers include tailor, pattern master, sample maker, quality checker, embroidery artisan, boutique owner, and production supervisor.
Worked example
A kurta uses ₹330 fabric and trims, ₹120 labour, and ₹50 allocated overhead, giving a total cost of ₹500. Reasoning: for a 20% profit on cost, selling price = ₹500 × 1.20 = ₹600. If a customer offers ₹560, profit would be ₹60, or 12% on cost. Do not cut the price without checking whether fabric wastage, labour time, or overhead can be reduced. If monthly fixed cost is ₹6,000 and each kurta contributes ₹150 after variable costs, break-even is 6,000 ÷ 150 = 40 kurtas.
Traps
Forgetting your own labour; mixing profit-on-cost with margin-on-price; ignoring wastage; underpricing to win every order; and keeping no written records.