Comprehensive Woven Fabric Costing Calculator

The formula

This is the expression the tool evaluates. Every term is named underneath, with the unit it must be supplied in.

How the result is derived

Step by step, from the values you type to the figure on screen.

1. GSM and width fix how much yarn a running metre contains — the only bridge between a fabric specification and a yarn price.
2. Yarn cost is inflated by wastage, because the mill buys the waste as well as the cloth.
3. Sizing, weaving and processing charges are added as quoted, per metre.
4. Overhead loads the total conversion and material cost, giving a fully absorbed cost per metre.
5. Margin is applied last, and the price is also reported per square metre so constructions at different widths can be compared honestly.

What each input means

Where to read each value on the floor, the unit it must be in, and the range the tool accepts.

What the tool returns

The headline figure and every supporting value it is built from.

Worked example

Substituting

Yarn is 44% of the cost here. On a coarser, heavier construction it passes 60%, and yarn price movement then decides the quotation on its own.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Fabric & Yarn, Conversion and Commercial. The defaults are a realistic case, so you can change one value at a time and watch what moves.
2. There is no calculate button. Every figure recalculates as you type or drag, which is what makes this usable for a what-if sweep rather than a single answer.
3. Read Selling Price in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in /m.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Yarn Cost including Waste, Conversion Cost, Total Cost with Overhead, Selling Price per Square Metre and Margin Earned) before acting on the headline — they are where an implausible input usually shows itself first.
5. Reset to defaults returns every field to the reference case, which is the quickest way to check whether a surprising result came from the tool or from an input you had changed earlier.

Where this is used

• Quotation — building an ex-mill price from a construction rather than from last season plus a percentage.
• Cost-down analysis — seeing immediately whether a target price is reachable through yarn, through conversion, or not at all.
• Negotiation — separating what is genuinely cost from what is overhead absorption and margin, so a discount is given knowingly.
• Comparing constructions — price per square metre is the only fair comparison when widths differ.

Reading the result

Typical bands and what each one is telling you.

Assumptions and limits

• Quote per square metre when comparing across widths. Two fabrics at the same price per metre can differ by 20% per square metre.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Fabric Weight 10 to 1000 g/m², Fabric Width 0.1 to 5 m and Average Yarn Price 0.01 to 1000 /kg, and so on for the rest). Those bounds are guard rails against typing errors, not a claim that the formula fails one unit outside them.
• The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always give the same result. It carries no allowance for machine condition, operator skill, ambient conditions or lot-to-lot material variation unless an input above explicitly represents one.
• Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave the page.

Standards and further reading

• The calculation is a costing convention rather than a test method; the inputs it consumes come from ASTM D3776 (GSM) and ASTM D3774 (width).
• Currency is deliberately unnamed. Enter every money field in one currency and the outputs come back in that currency.

Questions people ask