A fabric store sells a length, and the customer picks the length.
So the best app for selling fabric by the yard or metre does five things:
- It takes any length, with your minimum cut and your steps.
- It works in the units you sell in.
- It prices each fabric at its own rate.
- It handles breaks, cutting fees and minimum orders.
- It keeps the exact cut on the order.
Below is each point as a store needs it, then how Appify Custom Product Options does it. The demo store has a few calculators close to fabric, and each point says which one to open.
Does it take any length, not just set lengths?
What a store needs: a field where the customer types 3.5 yards, or 2.75 metres, with no variant created for it. Shopify variants are fixed choices you list in advance, so a long list of lengths is the only way to cover the cuts people ask for.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: a Length option is a number field with a unit label. You set the starting value, the smallest and largest length, the step and how many decimals it allows. The shopper types the length, and the price follows as they type.
For a live example of a material sold by length, open the privacy film by the roll demo. The rate follows the roll width the shopper picks, and the length is typed in.
Can you set a minimum cut and a cut step?
What a store needs: nobody wants to cut 10 centimetres of silk. And if you cut in quarter yards, the field should move in quarter yards.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: the Minimum, Maximum, Step and Decimals settings on the Length option cover it. A minimum of 0.5 and a step of 0.25 gives a half-yard minimum that grows in quarters.
Some fabrics need their own rules. A Limit rule in the visibility rules can change the minimum, maximum or step when a given fabric is picked. Velvet can have a longer minimum than cotton, and the field enforces it.
Does it work in the units your shoppers use?
What a store needs: a shopper in one market thinks in yards. A shopper in another thinks in metres. A store that sells to both should not need two products.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: the Length option pairs the number field with a unit selector. You define the units, and each has a label and a conversion factor. The calculator can then bring every entry to one unit before it prices anything.
The customizable curtains demo lets the shopper pick centimetres or inches. The limits change with the unit too, so the field never accepts a size you do not make. Our curtain calculator breakdown shows how it is built.
Can each fabric have its own price per yard?
What a store needs: linen, cotton and wool do not cost the same. One flat rate per product means a separate product for every fabric, or a rate that is wrong for most of them.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: a pricing table holds your rate card. Each fabric is a row, and the formula looks up the row for the fabric the shopper picked. Update a rate in the table once, and every product that uses it follows.
With made-up prices in dollars: linen at 18 a yard, cotton at 12. A shopper picks linen and enters 3.5 yards. The price is 3.5 × 18 = 63.
If a fabric also comes in several widths, the table can be a grid, with the fabric down one side and the width across the top. The rate follows both choices.
Does it handle price breaks for longer cuts?
What a store needs: a customer buying 20 metres for a project should get a better rate than one buying 2. Many stores want the break to depend on the fabric too.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: quantity discount rules set the breaks. They can run by quantity alone, or by quantity and a size value together. A discount table can also depend on the options picked, so linen and cotton can each have their own ladder.
The privacy film demo above shows a percent-off ladder on a product sold by length. Our tiered pricing guide goes through the options.
Can you add a cutting fee and a minimum order?
What a store needs: a short cut costs nearly as much to handle as a long one. Many stores add a flat cutting fee, or refuse to ship an order below a set value.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: a fixed fee adds a flat charge, and discounts never reduce it. A minimum price on the total price formula sets the floor for the whole order.
A price adjustment can add a surcharge once the size passes a point you set. Setting a minimum price has the steps.
The formula is the product price. The length, the fabric rate, the fee and the minimum all land in one calculated price, on one native Shopify cart line. No length becomes a new variant, and there is no add-on line to explain at checkout.
Can it turn an amount into the units you stock?
What a store needs: some customers know how much they need. You stock it in set units, so the order should come out in those units.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: a quantity formula can work out a count from an amount. The box or area demo does it with flooring: the shopper enters an area, and the calculator works out how many boxes cover it. Customers can still change the quantity in the theme cart.
Our guide to selling fabric, rugs and curtains covers more of the fabric setup.
Does the cut survive the order?
What a store needs: the person at the cutting table needs the fabric and the exact length. A customer who typed 3.5 when they meant 5 needs a way to fix it. A customer who wants the same cut again should not start from zero.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: every choice is saved on the order. An Edit options button in the cart reopens the calculator, so a wrong length is fixed without starting over.
Shopify's own Buy again only re-adds the product and drops the options, which is why that button fails custom orders. Appify Reorder and the Reorder this item email link bring the cut back with its length intact.
A Restore your cart link rebuilds an abandoned cart with every configured item.
For stores that sell abroad, prices convert with Shopify Markets, and each calculator can run in up to 10 languages.
How much work is the setup?
What a store needs: a rate card with 40 fabrics should not mean 40 hours of clicking.
How Appify Custom Product Options does it: Chat with AI builds the calculator from a plain description. Type something like "I sell fabric by the yard. Customer picks fabric type and enters yardage. Price per yard depends on the fabric." It adds a dropdown, a number input and a table-based pricing formula.
Attach your price sheet as a CSV or Excel file and it builds the rate table from it.
If a price looks wrong, click Price looks wrong? under the preview price. The Troubleshoot tab runs the formula for those exact choices and shows each step.
Fabric is one case of a wider question: what a Shopify product options app should be able to calculate.
FAQ
Can shoppers pick their own unit?
Yes. A Length option has a unit selector, and you define the units. Each unit carries a conversion factor, so the calculator can work from one normalised length.
Can I set a minimum cut length?
Yes. The Length option has a minimum, a maximum and a step. A Limit rule can change them for a given fabric.
Can every fabric have its own rate?
Yes. A pricing table holds one rate per fabric, and the formula reads the row for the fabric picked.
Does each length create a new Shopify variant?
No. Options and pricing live outside Shopify's variant system, and the calculated price is charged at checkout on one cart line.
Every cut, priced to the fabric.
Whatever you sell, however you price it · The last options app you'll shop for