Fabric Width and Cutting Yield Explained

Why width matters more than buyers usually think

Most buyers compare fabric on price per metre and GSM, and stop there. But the width of the roll decides how many garment pieces you can lay across it, and that has a bigger effect on your final cost per uniform than most people expect.

Think of a bolt of fabric as a strip you are cutting pattern pieces from. A wider strip lets you fit more pieces side by side in each length you cut. A trouser leg or a shirt back panel that only just fits on a 110 cm wide fabric might allow two pieces side by side on a 150 cm wide fabric, or let you fit a sleeve alongside it with no extra length used. That difference compounds across a full production run.

How Benny Cotts fabric width compares to narrower alternatives

There is no single Benny Cotts width, and this is exactly the kind of assumption this guide exists to stop. Most of our qualities are woven at 147 cm, which the trade calls 58 inch. Several suitings run 150 cm. The narrower shirting and lining cloths run 142 cm (56 inch), and a few shirtings are woven at 91 cm (36 inch) or 89 cm (35 inch). Always confirm the width on the specific product page or spec sheet before you calculate yardage, because assuming 150 cm on a 147 cm or 142 cm cloth means you under-order.

Fabric in the market is also commonly available at 110-115 cm, and a suiting width and a narrow width are not directly comparable on a price-per-metre basis. At 147 to 150 cm you get roughly 28-35 percent more usable area per metre than at 115 cm. That extra width is what lets a cutting table fit an additional piece across the roll on many uniform patterns, shirts and trousers in particular, without changing the length you cut. On shirting the same question comes down to two specific formats, which our guide on 36 inch vs 58 inch shirting works through piece by piece.

• 147 to 150 cm suiting width: wider working area per metre, fewer metres needed for the same number of pieces on most patterns
• 142 cm and narrower shirting or lining widths: check the spec sheet, since a 5 cm shortfall against an assumed 150 cm quietly adds length to every marker
• 110-115 cm width: narrower working area, often needs extra length to fit the same pieces, especially on larger sizes
• Wider fabric is generally better suited to bulk institutional orders where consistent yield matters
• Narrower fabric can still work fine for smaller panels or trims where width is not the limiting factor

The right way to compare price across two different widths

Never compare fabric purely on price per running metre when the widths differ. A metre of 150 cm fabric and a metre of 115 cm fabric are not the same amount of cloth, so the price per metre tells you very little on its own.

The fairer comparison is price per square metre. Divide the price per metre by the width in metres to get this figure, then compare the two fabrics on that basis. This strips out the width difference and shows you the true cost of the material itself.

It's common for a narrower fabric to look cheaper per running metre and still work out more expensive per square metre once you normalise for width. That per-square-metre figure is the one to hold on to when you are comparing quotes from different mills.

From square metres to garments: working out real yield

Price per square metre tells you the cost of the material, but what you actually care about is cost per finished garment. That depends on how many pattern pieces you can fit per metre of running length, which is where the marker layout comes in.

A marker is the layout plan that shows how all the pattern pieces for a garment are arranged across the fabric width to use the least length possible. On a 150 cm fabric, a typical uniform shirt pattern might allow two body panels plus a sleeve to sit across the width in one cut. On a 115 cm fabric, the same sleeve often has to be cut separately further down the roll, adding length and therefore cost.

Why real-world yield is always lower than the simple sum

If you just multiply length by width, you get a theoretical maximum area. Real cutting never hits that number, because pattern pieces are not rectangles. Collars, cuffs, curved yokes and shaped panels leave gaps between pieces that cannot be used.

A well-planned marker, done by an experienced pattern cutter, can get close to the theoretical yield by nesting pieces tightly and rotating them to fill gaps. A rushed or poorly planned layout can waste 15 percent or more of the fabric in unused offcuts. This is why two factories using the identical fabric can end up with noticeably different costs per garment, the difference is in the cutting room, not the cloth.

• Straight-panel garments like basic trousers or simple tunics: lower wastage, layout is close to theoretical yield
• Fitted or shaped garments with curved seams, collars, or darts: higher wastage, more gaps between pieces
• Mixed-size production runs: yield improves when small and large sizes are nested together on the same marker
• Hand layout versus computer-aided marker planning: computer planning generally tightens yield further

A practical way to estimate before you order

If you already have meterage-per-garment figures for suiting-width fabric, from our fabric required per uniform guide for instance, you can use those as planning numbers, since they are built around the 147 to 150 cm band most of our qualities sit in. Check the width on the quality you have actually chosen first: on a 142 cm or narrower cloth those figures run short. If you are working from a supplier quote at a different width, do not just scale the numbers proportionally, ask for or run an actual marker on that width first.

For any large order, it is worth asking your cutting unit for a short trial layout on the fabric before committing to a full production run. It takes a small amount of time and tells you the real yield you will get, rather than relying on a theoretical calculation that may not hold once actual pattern shapes are involved.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does wider fabric always mean cheaper garments?

Not automatically. Width increases the area you get per metre, but you still need to check the price per square metre and the actual marker yield. A wider fabric priced high per metre can still cost more per garment than a narrower, cheaper one. Always work the sum through to cost per piece before deciding.

What width does Benny Cotts fabric come in?

It varies by quality. Most of our fabrics are woven at 147 cm (58 inch), several suitings are 150 cm, and the narrower shirting and lining cloths run 142 cm (56 inch), 91 cm (36 inch) or 89 cm (35 inch). All of it is woven at our own unit in Atoon, Bhilwara, and finished through trusted processing partners in the region. Because the width is not fixed across the range, confirm it on the product page or spec sheet for the quality you have chosen before planning cutting layouts.

How much fabric does a marker layout waste compared to the theoretical calculation?

It varies by garment shape and cutter skill, but a reasonable planning allowance is somewhere between 8 and 15 percent above the simple length times width sum, depending on how many curved or angled pieces the pattern has. Simple garments with straight panels sit at the lower end; fitted uniforms with more shaped pieces sit higher.

Should I ask my mill for the marker layout before ordering?

Yes, if you are ordering in volume it is worth asking your cutting unit to run a trial marker on the actual fabric width before you commit to a full order. It costs a small amount of time upfront and saves you from ordering short or over.

How much more usable fabric do I actually get at 150 cm width versus 115 cm?

Roughly 30 to 35 percent more usable area per metre. That extra width is often enough to fit an additional pattern piece across the roll on shirt and trouser patterns without changing the length you cut, which is why it matters more than the price per metre alone suggests.

Why do fitted uniforms waste more fabric than simple ones?

Curved seams, collars and darts leave gaps between pattern pieces that a marker can't fill, so fitted garments sit at the higher end of wastage. Straight-panel garments like basic trousers or simple tunics stay closer to the theoretical yield. Nesting small and large sizes together on the same marker also improves yield on a mixed production run.