Fabric Consumption: How Much Fabric a Garment Actually Needs

Ask a factory what a garment costs and you get a price. Ask how much fabric it uses and you find out whether that price is any good — because on most garments the fabric is the largest single line in the cost, and it is the line a buyer can actually influence.

This is the number nobody teaches new brands to ask for.

What consumption actually means

Consumption is how many metres of fabric one garment uses, at a stated fabric width. That last part matters: the same garment cut from 150 cm wide fabric and from 110 cm wide fabric consumes different amounts, so a consumption figure without a width attached is not a figure.

It is calculated from the marker — the cutting layout that arranges every pattern piece on the fabric. A tight marker nests pieces into each other's gaps; a loose one leaves fabric between them. The difference between an efficient and an inefficient marker on the same garment is real money once you multiply it by a production run.

What makes consumption go up

• Directional fabric. A nap, a pile or a print with a top and bottom means every piece has to face the same way. Pieces that could otherwise be rotated to fill gaps cannot be, and efficiency drops.
• Pattern repeats. A camouflage or check that has to match across seams forces pieces to be positioned rather than nested. Matching looks expensive because it is.
• Large panels. A long coat back leaves awkward gaps around it that smaller pieces may not fill.
• A lopsided size curve. Markers are built across the sizes being cut. A run that is almost all one size nests worse than a balanced one, so an unbalanced curve costs more per piece as well as risking unsold stock.
• Narrow fabric. Some pieces simply will not fit side by side, and the layout is forced to waste the remainder.

You cannot order exactly the calculated amount

Every calculation is followed by an allowance, and brands supplying their own fabric routinely forget it.

• Cutting waste — the fabric between and around the pieces, which is unavoidable and already reflected in a marker efficiency figure.
• End-of-roll loss — the last section of each roll that is too short to lay.
• Fabric faults — flaws that have to be cut around. Mills allow for a percentage of faults as normal.
• Shrinkage if the fabric is relaxed or washed before cutting.
• Samples and re-cuts — a small buffer for pieces that have to be replaced.

The practical consequence: under-ship and the line stops mid-order, and the replacement fabric is a new dye lot that will not match what has already been cut. This is the single most common CMT failure and it is entirely arithmetic.

Why this decides whether CMT saves money

Under CMT you supply the fabric and pay a make charge. The model only wins if your fabric cost per garment is meaningfully below what the factory would have paid — and you cannot know that without the consumption figure.

A worked shape, with round numbers to show the arithmetic rather than to quote anything: if a jacket consumes 1.8 metres at 150 cm and your fabric costs $6 a metre, that is $10.80 of fabric in the garment. If a slightly better marker brings it to 1.65 metres, it is $9.90 — a 90-cent saving per piece that appears from nothing but the layout. Multiply by an order and it is a real number.

The same figure tells you when CMT is not worth it. If you are buying fabric at a similar price to the factory, you have taken on shipping, customs, storage, shortage risk and a cash-flow drag to save very little. Our page on OEM versus CMT goes through the rest of that comparison, including the nominated-fabric option that sits between them.

What to ask for, and what a good answer looks like

Ask any factory quoting you: what is the consumption per garment, at what fabric width, and what allowance are you adding?

A good answer states the figure per size or gives a base size and a grade increment, names the width it assumes, and separates the allowance from the calculated consumption so you can see both. A vague answer — "about two metres" — is a sign the marker has not been made yet, which means the price is an estimate rather than a quote.

Two follow-ups worth asking:

• "Does this assume pattern matching?" If your fabric has a repeat and you have not specified matching, the figure probably assumes none. Deciding later changes both the consumption and the cutting time.
• "What size curve is this based on?" A consumption figure is an average across the sizes in the marker. If your real curve is different, the number moves.

Where a brand can genuinely reduce it

Not by asking for a cheaper price — by changing what is being cut.

• Drop the directional requirement where the design does not need it. A non-directional print or a plain fabric nests far better.
• Reconsider pattern matching. On some garments it is the whole point; on others nobody has ever noticed. It is worth knowing what it costs before deciding it is essential.
• Balance the size curve where you can. It helps the marker and it helps your stock position.
• Combine styles in one lay. If two styles use the same fabric, cutting them together fills each other's gaps and improves efficiency for both. Tell the factory the whole order rather than styles one at a time.
• Check the width you are buying. A wider roll is sometimes cheaper per garment even at a higher price per metre.

The short version

Fabric is usually the biggest cost in the garment, consumption is how much of it you are buying, and it is a figure you are entitled to ask for before you agree a price. A factory that gives it to you per size, at a stated width, with the allowance broken out, is a factory that has actually made the marker — which is also a reasonable proxy for whether the rest of the quote is real.

We give consumption as part of any CMT quote, and on request for OEM, so you can see where the money is going. If you want to compare quotes properly first, how to price a hunting apparel line covers landed cost and the multiples that follow from it.