The method-time-cost solution for garment costing and sustainable manufacturing

A Standard Minute Value (SMV) is the time, expressed in minutes, that a trained and qualified worker requires to complete a specific garment manufacturing operation under defined conditions. GSDCost calculates SMVs by applying its library of 39 Predetermined Motion Codes to each step in a Method Standard, a scientific, objective breakdown of every movement involved in producing a sewn product. Because the Motion Codes carry internationally established time values, the resulting SMVs are accurate, consistent, and comparable across factories and geographies, removing subjectivity from the costing process.

GSDCost’s 39 Motion Codes are the core building blocks of its pre-determined time-motion database. Each code represents a specific, scientifically defined human motion such as reaching, grasping, or positioning and carries an associated International Standard Time value. Industrial engineers and GSDCost practitioners combine these codes to construct a Method Standard for any garment operation. Because the codes are standardised, a single set of 39 Motion Codes can be assembled in thousands of different combinations to define thousands of operations, features, and an unlimited number of product styles, ensuring both flexibility and global consistency.

GSDCost drives sustainability in garment manufacturing in two complementary ways. First, it standardises and optimises production methods, reducing wasted time, rework, and overproduction, directly lowering the environmental footprint of the manufacturing process. Second, its built-in Fair Wage Tool enables brands to benchmark worker compensation against international fair wage standards, ensuring that efficiency gains translate into better livelihoods rather than cost-cutting at the expense of workers. By placing people and fair wages at the heart of the fashion supply chain, GSDCost supports a more ethical, transparent, and long-term sustainable manufacturing model.

GSDCost is designed for both apparel brands and garment manufacturers, and its full value is realised when both sides of the supply chain use it. For brands, GSDCost provides accurate cost benchmarking during product development, enabling “design for value” analysis and more transparent supplier negotiations. For manufacturers, it is a manufacturing excellence tool supporting method improvement, line balancing, capacity planning, and worker productivity. When brands and manufacturers both adopt GSDCost, they establish a shared standard that eliminates costing disputes, shortens the negotiation cycle, improves supply chain transparency, and supports fairer, more sustainable trading relationships. 

GSDCost enables design teams to assess and optimise cost from the very earliest stages of the product development cycle before a single sample is cut. Using GSDCost’s “Create for Value” functionality, designers and technologists can rapidly assemble cost estimates for different design and construction variations, comparing the time and labour implications of different seam types, trims, or construction methods. This allows teams to model “what-if” scenarios and achieve the optimum price-performance balance before tooling up for production. The result is fewer sampling rounds, less costly re-design activity, lower time-to-market, and improved margin opportunities without compromising on design integrity.

Yes. Because GSDCost builds every cost estimate from a Method Standard, a step-by-step breakdown of each operation involved in producing a garment, brands can see exactly where time and labour accumulate across the construction sequence. Each operation carries its own Standard Minute Value, so a brand can pinpoint which seams, trims, or construction methods contribute most to the total labour cost rather than working from a single lump-sum figure. Using GSDCost’s “Create for Value” functionality, teams can then test alternative construction choices and immediately see the cost impact of each change. This operation-level visibility turns garment costing into a precise diagnostic exercise, helping brands target the features that genuinely move the cost needle.

GSDCost gives product development and sourcing teams a single, shared costing language built on the same standard motion codes and Standard Minute Values. Instead of each team working from its own estimates and assumptions, both reference the same method-based figures, which removes the disputes that typically arise when a design moves from development into sourcing. Target garment minutes, factory efficiencies, and cost per minute can all be pre-agreed, so negotiations with suppliers become a structured, fact-based process rather than a back-and-forth over guesswork. The result is a faster, win-win sourcing conversation in which development understands the cost consequences of its design decisions and sourcing can negotiate from an objective, defensible baseline.

Yes. GSDCost is designed to be used from the earliest stage of the product development cycle, before a sample is cut, and to stay relevant through to production. Designers and technologists can assemble cost estimates for different construction variations, run “what-if” scenarios, and compare options as a design evolves, so cost is monitored continuously rather than checked once near the end. Because every estimate is built from the same standardised Method Standard, figures remain consistent and comparable at each stage, allowing teams to track how design changes affect cost over the life of the development process. This continuous benchmarking helps brands hold the optimum price-performance balance from concept through to final approval.

Brands calculate labour cost before production by building a Standard Minute Value for the garment from a Method Standard, the scientific breakdown of every operation needed to make it, then combining that SMV with factory efficiency data and an agreed cost per minute. With GSDCost this can be done at the design stage, before a sample is cut, so a brand has a reliable labour cost figure while construction choices can still be changed. The GSDQuest enhancement accelerates this further: it uses AI to analyse a product image, tech pack, or PDF, identify the construction features, and generate a standardised Bill of Labour in seconds, giving brands an early, consistent labour estimate without waiting for manual analysis.

Yes. GSDCost manages a digital Bill of Labour as part of its costing process, with flexible CMT, FF, and Open costing options linked to operation libraries. Its GSDQuest enhancement makes Bill of Labour creation faster still: GSDQuest uses AI to analyse one or more garment images, tech packs, or PDFs, automatically identifies the visible and hidden construction features, maps them to construction methods in Coats Digital’s proprietary QED Library, and generates a fully detailed, standardised Bill of Labour in seconds. Because the output is grounded in the same standard motion codes and Standard Minute Values that underpin GSDCost, the resulting digital Bill of Labour is accurate, consistent, and comparable across styles, factories, and product lines.