Today, on NNEP’s 30th anniversary, we’re publishing something the embroidery industry has never had: a documented baseline for how shops are actually pricing their work.
For 30 years, I’ve watched embroidery shops price by feel, a stitch count chart, a number that worked last time, a gut check before presenting a quote. Some of that pricing holds up. A lot of it doesn’t, and most shop owners have no real way to know which is which. That’s not a failure of effort. It’s a system gap, and until today, nobody had measured it.
This year, 545 shops completed the NNEP Pricing Diagnostic, and 193 completed the Benchmark Survey. From that data, NNEP built the 2026 State of Embroidery Pricing — the first documented measure of embroidery pricing-system maturity in this industry, and the first year of what’s now an annual benchmark.
The headline number
The 2026 NNEP Pricing Index landed at 7.54 out of 20.
That’s the average score across every shop that completed the Diagnostic this year, measured across the same five PRICE drivers: Production Cost, Real Labor, Intended Profit, Capacity Pressure, and End Customer Value.
More than half of participating shops — 54.1% — scored in Pricing Blind Spots. Another 41.3% landed in Partial Pricing System. Only 25 shops, out of 545, scored with Strong Pricing Foundation.
At 7.54, the average shop has roughly a third of a complete pricing system in place. That is enough to keep quoting, yet not enough to consistently account for what an order actually costs, what it’s worth, and what it should pay.
What surprised me
I expected the Production Cost and Real Labor gaps. I’ve watched shops skip those for 30 years.
What I didn’t expect: pricing confidence and pricing system completeness don’t align. Among shops who scored at the Pricing Blind Spots level — the lowest tier — 37.6% still said they are somewhat or very confident that their pricing is profitable. Among the most confident shops overall, pricing system maturity scores ran the full range, from 3 to 20 out of 20.
You can feel sure about a number and still be missing the system behind it. That’s worth sitting with.
The one number that predicted everything else
Pricing method was the strongest single predictor of pricing system maturity in the entire dataset. Shops that price to hit a defined profit target scored an average of 11.93 out of 20. Shops pricing by stitch count or customer expectation scored an average of 5.26 — a gap of 6.67 points.
Don’t quote stitches. PRICE the order. That’s not a slogan. It’s the most consistent signal in the data.
Get the full report →
The 2026 State of Embroidery Pricing covers all five PRICE drivers, what Strong Pricing Foundation shops do differently, what shops are actually charging for common jobs, and the full methodology behind this year’s Index.
If you’re a current NNEP member, or you completed the Diagnostic or Benchmark Survey this year by June 14, check your email, the Report is already available to you.
For everyone else, the full report is available for $95. Purchase the Report here →
Haven’t taken the Diagnostic yet? It’s free, takes about three minutes, and your results help build the 2027 benchmark.