In many units, costing means "look at the yarn rate and add 5 or 6 rupees". Until you see power, wages and overheads separately, you can't tell which quality is really earning. This guide builds the full cost of one metre of grey fabric, step by step.
Two parts: yarn and conversion
Yarn — warp and weft, with wastage. It is usually by far the biggest share. Conversion — the cost of turning yarn into cloth: power, weaver wages, overheads, the beam (warping + drawing-in) and mending, folding and packing.
Yarn: kilos in one metre
Denier is the weight in grams of 9,000 m of yarn, so the yarn in one metre of cloth is divided by 9,000,000 (9,000 × 1,000):
Weft kg / m = picks × panna (inch) × weft denier × (1 + weft wastage%) ÷ 9,000,000
Yarn ₹ / m = warp kg × warp rate + weft kg × weft rate
Crimp and wastage are different things. Crimp is the extra warp used because it bends over and under inside the cloth. Wastage never reaches the cloth at all — breaks, edges, what's left on the beam, cone ends.
Conversion: a loom's metres a day
Power, wages and overheads are paid by the day or month, so first you need one loom's output per day:
Power ₹ / m = kW × hours a day × ₹ per unit ÷ metres a day
Overhead ₹ / m = (monthly overhead ÷ working days) ÷ metres a day
Beam ₹ / m = warping + drawing-in for one beam ÷ cloth metres from that beam
Full worked example
Quality: 8,200 ends × 60 denier, 10% crimp, 2% warp wastage; 150 denier weft, 50 picks, 65.5-inch panna, 3% weft wastage. Loom at 700 RPM, 85% efficiency, two 12-hour shifts. The rates are assumed, only to show the working.
- Warp: 8,200 × 60 × 1.10 × 1.02 ÷ 9,000,000 = 0.0613 kg / m → at ₹800 / kg, ₹49.07
- Weft: 50 × 65.5 × 150 × 1.03 ÷ 9,000,000 = 0.0562 kg / m → at ₹550 / kg, ₹30.92
- Metres a day: 700 × 60 × 24 × 0.85 ÷ 1,968.5 = 435 m
| Cost | How | ₹ / m |
|---|---|---|
| Warp + weft | from above | 79.99 |
| Power | 4 kW × 24 h × ₹8 = ₹768 a day ÷ 435 m | 1.76 |
| Wages | per metre | 2.50 |
| Overheads | ₹6,000 / loom / month ÷ 26 days ÷ 435 m | 0.53 |
| Beam | ₹2,400 a beam ÷ 8,000 m | 0.30 |
| Mending, folding, packing | per metre | 0.50 |
| Cost | yarn 79.99 + conversion 5.59 | 85.58 |
Check the yarn part in the Recipe tab of the Fabric Costing calculator. It has no separate warp wastage box, so put wastage into the WST: 110 × 1.02 = 112.2.
From cost to selling rate
Brokerage and credit interest are charged on the selling price, not on the cost. 1% brokerage plus 12% a year for 60 days of credit = 1% + 12% × 60 ÷ 365 = 2.97%.
Rate with margin = cost ÷ (1 − brokerage% − interest% − margin%)
In the example: 85.58 ÷ 0.9703 = about ₹88.2 — sell below that and you lose. For a 10% margin: 85.58 ÷ 0.8703 = about ₹98.3. What credit days really cost is in the interest and credit days guide.
Check it against paise per pick
Divide conversion by picks and you get the language of job rates: 5.59 ÷ 50 × 100 = about 11.2 paise per pick. If you weave on job work, a rate below this doesn't even cover your loom's running cost. Whether a party quotes ₹ / m, paise per pick or ₹ per lakh picks, convert it in the job rate calculator and compare.
Common mistakes
- Invoice rate instead of landed rate. Freight, brokerage, discount — the real yarn rate is what it cost to reach your godown.
- Taking wastage as zero. 2–3% looks small, but on ₹80 of yarn it is ₹1.60 to ₹2.40 on every metre.
- Assuming 100% efficiency. Fewer metres a day means more power, wages and overheads per metre. Use your real figure from the loom efficiency guide.
- Entering a count as denier. 40s cotton = 5,315 ÷ 40 = 132.9 denier. See denier vs count.
- Using one costing for years. Yarn rates move, the power bill moves — redo the costing too.
In Loomiro
In Loomiro's Costing, picking a quality fills in reed, picks, panna, ends, denier and the yarn rate from your last purchase. Add power, wages (per metre, per lakh picks or per month), overheads, beam charges and brokerage and interest, and you get the full cost-per-metre breakdown, the break-even, a sale rate at your margin and paise per pick together. Save costings, compare 2–4 qualities, and later match the plan against actual production and expenses.
The rates in the example (yarn, power, overheads) are only there to explain the working — they are not market prices. Use your own bills and your own unit's numbers.