Leather Cost Calculator
Cost a piece of leather by area or by weight, with the unit conversions and the waste allowance built in.
At a glance
- What you enter
- How the leather was priced, Price per unit, Bounding length of the piece, Bounding width of the piece, How many pieces, Waste allowance, Weight per square foot
- What you get
- Area for all the pieces, Area added by the waste allowance, Area to allow for, Price per square foot, Price per square inch, Leather cost per piece, Leather cost without the allowance, Total leather cost with waste, Cost of the waste allowance, Weight of the leather to allow for, Weight in grams, Effective price per kilogram, Price per square metre
- Formula shown
- Yes, every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Leather Cost Calculator
- 1 Enter How the leather was priced
- 2 Enter Price per unit, The price for one square foot, one square metre, one square decimetre or one kilogram, whichever you chose above.
- 3 Enter Bounding length of the piece (in), The length of the rectangle the pattern piece needs, including the cutting allowance.
- 4 Enter Bounding width of the piece (in)
- 5 Enter How many pieces
- 6 Enter Waste allowance (%), Covers the unusable part of the hide, the trim and the mistakes. Twenty percent suits a clean hide, up to forty for a lower grade or a project with large panels.
- 7 Enter Weight per square foot (oz), Only needed for pricing by weight. A 4 ounce leather is about 4 ounces per square foot, which is where the ounce rating comes from.
- 8 Press Calculate. You get Area for all the pieces, Area added by the waste allowance, Area to allow for, Price per square foot, Price per square inch, Leather cost per piece, Leather cost without the allowance, Total leather cost with waste, Cost of the waste allowance, Weight of the leather to allow for, Weight in grams, Effective price per kilogram, Price per square metre, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
- 9 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result, that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
Two belt blanks from a side
An 8 by 4 inch bounding area per belt blank, leather at 7.50 dollars a square foot.
You enter
- How the leather was priced
- 1
- Price per unit
- $7.50
- Bounding length of the piece
- 8 in
- Bounding width of the piece
- 4 in
- How many pieces
- 2
- Waste allowance
- 25%
- Weight per square foot
- 4 oz
You get
- Area for all the pieces
- 0.44 sq ft
- Area added by the waste allowance
- 0.11 sq ft
- Area to allow for
- 0.56 sq ft
- Price per square foot
- $7.50
- Price per square inch
- $0.05
- Leather cost per piece
- $1.67
- Leather cost without the allowance
- $3.33
- Total leather cost with waste
- $4.17
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $0.83
- Weight of the leather to allow for
- 2.22 oz
- Weight in grams
- 63.00 g
- Effective price per kilogram
- $66.14
- Price per square metre
- $80.73
A quarter of a square foot per blank, so 50 cents of leather each before the waste allowance and 62.5 cents after it.
Leather quoted per square metre
A European supplier quoting 75 euros a square metre for the same work.
You enter
- How the leather was priced
- 2
- Price per unit
- $75.00
- Bounding length of the piece
- 12 in
- Bounding width of the piece
- 8 in
- How many pieces
- 4
- Waste allowance
- 30%
- Weight per square foot
- 5 oz
You get
- Area for all the pieces
- 2.67 sq ft
- Area added by the waste allowance
- 0.80 sq ft
- Area to allow for
- 3.47 sq ft
- Price per square foot
- $6.97
- Price per square inch
- $0.05
- Leather cost per piece
- $4.65
- Leather cost without the allowance
- $18.58
- Total leather cost with waste
- $24.15
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $5.57
- Weight of the leather to allow for
- 17.33 oz
- Weight in grams
- 491.39 g
- Effective price per kilogram
- $49.16
- Price per square metre
- $75.00
The price reduces to about 6.97 a square foot, so the comparison against a dollar a square foot quote is straightforward.
Leather bought by weight
A 4 ounce upholstery leather at 22 dollars a kilogram, for a bag panel.
You enter
- How the leather was priced
- 4
- Price per unit
- $22.00
- Bounding length of the piece
- 18 in
- Bounding width of the piece
- 12 in
- How many pieces
- 1
- Waste allowance
- 20%
- Weight per square foot
- 4 oz
You get
- Area for all the pieces
- 1.50 sq ft
- Area added by the waste allowance
- 0.30 sq ft
- Area to allow for
- 1.80 sq ft
- Price per square foot
- $1.38
- Price per square inch
- $0.01
- Leather cost per piece
- $2.06
- Leather cost without the allowance
- $2.06
- Total leather cost with waste
- $2.48
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $0.41
- Weight of the leather to allow for
- 7.20 oz
- Weight in grams
- 204.12 g
- Effective price per kilogram
- $12.13
- Price per square metre
- $14.80
The weight basis works back to about 6.24 a square foot, which is the same order as an area priced hide of this weight.
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