What does transparent pricing mean?

Transparent pricing means the seller shows the underlying cost of a product and the markup on top of it. The customer can see exactly what they're paying for the item versus what they're paying the brand.

What is a typical markup on art apparel?

Traditional artist merch stores and licensed apparel typically run 150–200% markup over printing cost to cover wholesale, retail margin, returns, marketing, and storefront overhead.

How does Alien Variety Goods price its products?

Every product is priced at printer cost plus 20%. We do not hold inventory; items are printed only after you order. The 20% covers the artist's time and the cost of running the storefront.

Why does price transparency matter?

Price transparency lets you compare what you're paying for an item versus what you're paying the brand. It encourages ethical commerce, reduces waste from unsold inventory, and rebuilds trust between makers and buyers.

FIELD GUIDE · PRICING

TRANSPARENT PRICING IN ART APPAREL: PRINTER COST + 20% EXPLAINED

Most artist merch is priced at a multiple of what it cost to make. Ours isn't. This is a plain explanation of how transparent pricing works, what a 20% markup actually pays for, and how it compares to the 150–200% you usually see on licensed apparel.

WHAT “TRANSPARENT PRICING” ACTUALLY MEANS

Transparent pricing means the seller shows you two numbers: what the product cost to produce, and what the brand is adding on top. No mystery margin, no wholesale-then-retail laundering of price, no “suggested retail” theatre. You see the receipt the buyer never normally sees.

Brands that built reputations on this approach — Everlane being the obvious example — proved that customers will pay fairly when they understand what they're paying for. The catch: most of those brands eventually reverted to traditional retail margins once they scaled. We're trying not to.

HONEST RECEIPT VS. INDUSTRY RECEIPT

Here's what a typical print-on-demand t-shirt actually costs to make versus what you usually pay for one in an artist's storefront. Numbers are rounded for clarity; the principle holds across hats, prints, and stickers.

HONEST RECEIPT · ALIEN VARIETY GOODS

Printer cost$18.00
Markup (20%)$3.60
You pay$21.60

The $3.60 covers the artist's time and the cost of running the storefront. That's the whole markup.

INDUSTRY RECEIPT · TYPICAL MERCH STORE

Printer cost$18.00
Wholesale margin$9.00
Retail margin (≈2×)$27.00
Returns + overhead$4.00
You pay$58.00

A 150–200% effective markup. Standard across licensed apparel, band merch, and most artist-branded stores.

WHY THE 20% IS 20%

20% is the smallest margin we can take and still pay the artist for the drawing, keep the lights on, and accept the card fees. We don't have a warehouse, a sales team, a wholesale tier, or unsold inventory to discount. Nothing exists until you order it — so there's nothing to mark up to cover risk.

WHY PRICE TRANSPARENCY MATTERS

It lets you compare what you're paying for the item versus what you're paying the brand.
It removes the incentive to inflate “original” prices to fake discounts.
It rewards production decisions that actually lower cost instead of marketing that hides cost.
Print-on-demand plus transparent pricing produces almost no inventory waste.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Does the printer cost ever change?: Yes. If our printer raises the base cost of a garment, the listed price moves with it. The markup stays at 20%.
Why not just charge market rate and donate the difference?: Because then you'd be paying a market-rate price. The point is that you shouldn't have to.
Is the artist actually getting paid?: The artist is the one running this. The 20% is the paycheck. The artist is fine with that.

SEE THE PRICES IN THE WILD.

SHOP DROP 001 →