If you’re wondering how to calculate wholesale price, divide your retail price by the multiple your buyers expect. Most retailers expect about 2x, a 50% margin, per Faire’s pricing policy for brands (checked October 9, 2026). In fashion, many want more.
Syndicate builds wholesale fashion suppliers and distributors their own online stores, so we have a stake in what you choose. The numbers below come from the sources linked next to them.
Why does margin come up on every first call?
Because it’s the first thing a buyer checks. Before they look at your fabrics, they put your wholesale price next to your suggested retail price and do the division. If the gap is too small, the conversation ends there, however good the collection is.
It’s also where brands that started out selling direct get stuck. Faire’s guide to wholesale pricing (August 2026) says it plainly: if you sell direct to consumers, charging retailers half your retail price can seem impossible. The fix isn’t to squeeze the retailer. It’s to price for wholesale from the start.
What is keystone pricing, and what do fashion retailers expect?
Keystone, or retail at twice wholesale, is where most buyers start. Fashion retailers often want more. AIMS360, which makes software for apparel brands, puts the usual clothing markup at 2.2 to 2.5 times wholesale. Eightx’s 2026 guide to keystone markup says double keystone, three times cost, shows up in boutique apparel.
| Retail price vs wholesale | Retailer’s margin | Markup on wholesale | Where you’ll see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0x (keystone) | 50% | 100% | Faire’s typical retailer margin |
| 2.2x | 54.5% | 120% | Low end of AIMS360’s clothing range |
| 2.5x | 60% | 150% | High end of AIMS360’s clothing range |
| 3.0x (double keystone) | 66.7% | 200% | Boutique apparel, per Eightx |
Wholesale price vs retail price: does the buyer mean markup or margin?
Usually margin, and mixing the two up is an easy mistake to make. Markup is measured on what the retailer paid. Margin is measured on what they sell for. A 100% markup and a 50% margin describe the same thing: bought at $50, sold at $100. When a buyer says they need 55%, they usually mean margin, which works out to a retail price about 2.2 times your wholesale.
How do you calculate wholesale price from your retail price?
Start with the price your customer will pay. The wholesale pricing formula is wholesale price = retail price ÷ the retailer’s multiple. At keystone (2x), a dress that retails at $120 wholesales at $60. Here it is at three multiples, for a dress that costs you $25 to make and ship:
| Retailer’s multiple | Your wholesale price | Retailer’s margin | Your margin at $25 cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0x | $60.00 | 50% | 58.3% |
| 2.2x | $54.55 | 54.5% | 54.2% |
| 2.5x | $48.00 | 60% | 47.9% |
Every step up in the retailer’s multiple comes out of your margin, not theirs. That’s why your retail price has to be set with wholesale in mind. Put both prices on your linesheet, side by side, because buyers look for them together. Our guide to linesheets covers what else belongs there.
Does your retail price need to match everywhere you sell?
It should, and on Faire it has to. AIMS360 advises brands that sell both direct and wholesale to keep their own retail price in line with the suggested retail price they give stores. A boutique is unlikely to stock a dress you’re selling for less on your own site. Faire makes it a rule: your prices on Faire must be the same as or lower than anywhere else you sell, including your own wholesale site.
Remember what a marketplace takes out of your side, too. On Faire’s marketplace, a $60 wholesale price leaves you $51 after the 15% commission, before processing. We’ve broken down what Faire’s commission costs per order.
What if a 50% retailer margin doesn’t leave you enough?
Then that product might not be a wholesale product, and that’s a fair answer. Faire says so itself: not every product makes sense for wholesale. You’ve got three options:
- Raise the retail price, if your customers will pay it.
- Bring your costs down, through materials, bigger runs or cheaper freight.
- Keep that product direct-to-consumer only, and wholesale the styles that carry the margin.
What doesn’t work is quietly offering 40% and hoping. Buyers do the math before they reply. Price your range the way a buyer will see it, with wholesale and retail side by side, whether that’s on a linesheet or in a wholesale B2B store.
What does the research say about clothing margins?
AIMS360’s 2026 margin benchmarks put a boutique’s gross margin at 50 to 60%, and a wholesale-led clothing brand’s at 40 to 55% of its wholesale price. Net margins are much thinner on both sides, in the single digits for most. Those numbers come from an apparel software company rather than an independent survey, and your category will move them. But they show why buyers hold firm on margin: at 50 to 60% gross, they don’t have room to take less.
We checked these benchmarks and policies in September and October 2026. They change, so double-check the linked pages before you set prices.
Pricing a range for wholesale? Would it be a bad idea to have a second pair of eyes on the math? Book fifteen minutes or call 1-844-404-4796.
