How I Built a Fabric Calculator for Fashion Designers in One Weekend

A simple, SEO-optimized SaaS tool for indie brands — and how it helped launch our niche platform.

The problem: calculating fabric is harder than it looks

As someone working in the fashion supply chain, I’ve seen countless new designers struggle with one basic question:

“How much fabric do I need for this design?”

Most calculators online were either too generic or too technical — often built for engineers, not fashion people. But in product development, getting the fabric quantity right early saves time, money, and painful rework.

So I decided to build a better version. One that's:

✅ Web-based and mobile-friendly
✅ Intuitive for beginners
✅ Flexible for common garment types
✅ Built in a weekend

What it does (and doesn't do)

My fabric calculator helps users:

Estimate fabric required based on garment type (e.g., T-shirt, dress, hoodie)
Adjust for width (inches/cm), shrinkage %, and cutting loss
See results in real-time without login

It doesn’t replace a pattern maker — but it gives brands a reliable first estimate before going to the factory.

Try it here:

https://topologyclothing.com/tools/fabric-calculator

(Free to use, no sign-up needed)

🛠️ How I built it (tech stack)

Frontend: HTML + Tailwind CSS for fast prototyping
Logic: Vanilla JS to handle fabric logic and output
Deployment: Static hosting via Shopify custom page
SEO: Added structured schema + internal linking to improve crawlability

I also embedded explainer text below the calculator to capture long-tail keywords like “fabric consumption formula” and “how to calculate fabric in meters.”

Lessons learned

Speed > Perfection — shipping a useful tool in 48 hours beats overengineering.
Niche > Generic — the narrower the use case, the more love you get from the right users.
Content + Tool = SEO Goldmine — pairing a utility with written guides brings organic traffic.

What’s next?

This tool is now part of a growing toolkit at TopologyClothing.com — a platform to help indie brands navigate sourcing, costing, and production.

Next up, I’m building a unit cost estimator and a pricing simulator — still simple, still focused.

If you're building tools in a niche space, I’d love to connect.

💬 Got feedback? Drop me a comment or DM me on Twitter [@yanan song]

🔗 Clone the idea? Be my guest. Or let’s co-build the next one.