Buyer tools
Calculators for the arithmetic of buying garments. Each shows its formula and what it assumes, and none holds a price, a rate or a yield: you enter yours. They are working tools, not quotations.
Looking for GSM and ounce conversion, swatch weight, roll weight or shrinkage? Those are on the materials page, and the Incoterms chain is on the export page.
Fabric metres and kilograms
How much a length of fabric weighs, and how many metres a given weight contains. For freight, for rolls, and for comparing a quotation by the kilo with one by the metre.
Enter GSM, width and a length for its weight.
- Formula
- kg = GSM × width (m) × length (m) ÷ 1,000. metres = kg × 1,000 ÷ (GSM × width in m).
- Assumptions and limits
- Uses the width you enter, which should be the width the weight or price refers to. A roll also weighs its core and wrapping, which this does not include.
Fabric price: per kilo, per metre, per yard
Mills quote by the kilo; a cutting room plans in metres. Enter either price to see the others, so two quotations can be compared on one basis.
Enter GSM, width and one price.
- Formula
- kg per metre = GSM × width (m) ÷ 1,000. price per metre = price per kg × kg per metre. price per yard = price per metre × 0.9144.
- Assumptions and limits
- Any currency: the figures are only multiplied. Enter one price. Valid only for the GSM and width entered; a different width or finished weight is a different price.
Fabric requirement from a marker
Fabric per garment and for the whole order, from the length of a real marker. This asks for the marker because consumption comes from the pattern layout, not from the garment type.
Enter the marker length, garments in it, usable width and order quantity.
- Formula
- per garment = marker length ÷ garments in the marker. order total = per garment × quantity × (1 + allowance).
- Assumptions and limits
- The marker length comes from your CAD layout at the width entered, and the allowance for spreading ends and defects from your process: this tool has no default for either and invents none. Efficiency appears only if you give the pattern area. A figure above 100% means the inputs disagree.
FOB cost builder
See how the parts of a garment cost add up to an FOB price per piece, from your own numbers. Useful for reading a quotation line by line.
Enter fabric per piece, fabric price and an order quantity. Blank percentages count as 0.
- Formula
- fabric = per piece × (1 + waste) × price per m. direct = fabric + make + trims + decoration + packing + testing. FOB per piece = direct × (1 + overhead) × (1 + margin).
- Assumptions and limits
- Every figure is yours: this tool holds no price, rate or margin for any factory, and the result is arithmetic on your assumptions, not a quotation. Freight, duty and insurance are not part of an FOB price and are not included. Any currency.
Carton volume and container share
Cartons, cubic metres and how much of a container an order would take, from your carton size and packing.
Enter the carton size, pieces per carton (a whole number) and pieces in the order.
- Formula
- CBM per carton = length × width × height (cm) ÷ 1,000,000. cartons = pieces ÷ pieces per carton, rounded up. total CBM = cartons × CBM per carton.
- Assumptions and limits
- Container volumes are nominal internal figures (20 ft 33.2, 40 ft 67.7, 40 ft high cube 76.3 m³). A real load fills less, depending on carton shape, pallets and stacking, and weight limits apply too. Treat the share as a ceiling, and confirm loading with your forwarder.
Size run splitter
Divide an order across sizes from a ratio, in whole garments that add up to the order.
Enter a whole-number order quantity and a ratio for at least one size.
- Formula
- size quantity = order × size ratio ÷ sum of ratios, rounded so the sizes total the order exactly (largest remainder).
- Assumptions and limits
- The ratio is your decision: this tool does not suggest one, because the right split depends on who wears the garment. Sizes with no ratio are left out.
Tolerance checker
The range a specification allows, and whether a measurement falls inside it. For GSM, garment measurements, shrinkage and weights.
Enter a specification and a tolerance greater than zero.
- Formula
- percentage: range = value ± value × tolerance ÷ 100. absolute: range = value ± tolerance. deviation = (actual − specification) ÷ specification.
- Assumptions and limits
- You set the tolerance: this tool does not know which is normal for your product, and the figure in a contract governs. Measure the same way every time.
Decoration method chooser
Which ways of putting a logo on a garment are usually worth asking about, and why. Preliminary guidance only.
Machine embroideryUsually suits
- Small to medium logos on structured fabric are what embroidery does best, and it is the most durable look on polos, aprons and jackets.
Screen printingUsually suits
- Simple artwork in a few flat colours on a medium or large run is where screen printing is most economical.
DTF (direct-to-film) transferUsually suits
- Handles many colours, fine detail and gradients on cotton, blends and polyester, and needs no screen per colour.
Heat transfer vinylConsider with care
- Suitable for simple marks on short runs.
SublimationUsually unsuitable
- Sublimation dyes bond to polyester, so a cotton or blended garment will not hold the print.
- Formula
- Rules-based, not a calculation: each method is checked against the fabric, garment colour, logo size, number of colours and run length, using the general properties of each process.
- Assumptions and limits
- Prices nothing and promises no wash life. It does not know any factory's equipment, and fabric, finish and artwork can change the answer. Whatever it suggests, ask for a strike-off or sew-out on your real fabric and wash it before approving.
Yarn count converter
Convert between English cotton count (Ne), metric count (Nm), tex and denier.
Enter a count greater than zero.
- Formula
- Tex is grams per 1,000 m. Denier = 9 × tex. Nm = 1,000 ÷ tex. Ne = 590.54 ÷ tex, from 840 yards per pound.
- Assumptions and limits
- For a single yarn. Ne here is the English cotton system; worsted, linen and other systems use different constants. A plied yarn is not its single count: 20/2 is two 20s, which is coarser than 20.
Unit converter
Length, area and mass in the units a specification mixes: millimetres and inches, square metres and square yards, grams and ounces.
Enter a value to see it in every other unit.
- Formula
- Each unit is converted through the metre, square metre or gram. The inch is exactly 2.54 cm, the yard exactly 0.9144 m and the pound exactly 453.59237 g.
- Assumptions and limits
- Exact for the defined units. A measurement taken from a garment still has its own tolerance, and converting it does not remove that.
What these are not
Arithmetic, not a quotation.
A calculator can add up numbers you supply and convert units exactly. It cannot know what a mill charges, how efficiently a pattern lays out, what a container will really hold, or how a decoration will wash. Those come from your suppliers, your own markers and a test on your own fabric. For a costing against your specification, send it to us and we will answer with an FOB figure and the questions behind it.
A calculator gets you to a sensible question. A specification gets you an FOB costing.