Fabric and textiles retailers present one of the more technically complex WooCommerce migration challenges because of "sold by the metre" pricing — a non-standard quantity model that requires special handling in Shopify. The migration also needs to preserve extensive material specification data (composition, weight, width, care instructions) and handle colour/pattern variants that each need accurate swatch photography. Here's how to handle fabric retail correctly on Shopify.

Product types in fabric and textiles

Dress and fashion fabrics: Cotton, silk, jersey, chiffon — sold by the metre. Colour and pattern variants.
Home furnishing fabrics: Upholstery fabric, curtain fabric — sold by the metre. Width variants important (137cm vs 280cm).
Craft and quilting fabrics: Fat quarters, pre-cut bundles, metre-cuts. Collections and colour families.
Haberdashery: Zips, buttons, thread, elastic, ribbons, interfacing. Fixed units.
Knitting and crochet yarn: Sold by the ball/skein. Weight (DK, Aran, Chunky), fibre, colour.
Lace and trimmings: Sold by the metre. Width variants.
Wadding and interfacing: Sold by the metre or in fixed-size packs.
Sewing patterns: Digital (PDF) or physical. Size range, difficulty, garment type.

Sold by the metre: Shopify approaches

Shopify doesn't have native "sell by the metre" functionality. Three approaches:

Option A: Variants as cut lengths (most common)

Create length options as variants: 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3m, 4m, 5m
Each variant has the price for that length (e.g., 1m = £9.99, 2m = £19.98, 5m = £49.95)
If fabric has multiple colours: Option 1 = Length, Option 2 = Colour. Max 100 variants (10 lengths × 10 colours).
Shopify limit: 3 option types, 100 variants per product. Sufficient for most fabric products.
Stock management: track by "per metre" equivalent — stock of 50m = stock of 50 at the 1m variant level (divide rolls into equivalent metre units)

Option B: Custom metre input (requires app)

Customer types desired length (e.g., 2.3m) into a text input box
Price calculated: quantity × price per metre
Apps: Quantity Breaks, Custom Line Items app, or custom Shopify app
Challenge: decimal quantities aren't standard in Shopify checkout
Workaround: set price per unit to "price per 0.1m" and use integer quantity for 0.1m increments

Option C: Shopify "Sell in multiples" feature (Shopify 2024+)

Shopify introduced minimum quantity and quantity increments on variants
Set increment: 0.5m → customer selects 1 (=0.5m), 2 (=1m), 3 (=1.5m), etc.
Price per unit = price per 0.5m increment
Cleaner than app workarounds but requires theme support

Fabric metafields

Material specifications

product.metafields.fabric.composition (single_line_text) — "100% Cotton", "65% Polyester 35% Cotton", "Viscose/Linen blend"
product.metafields.fabric.weight_gsm (number_integer) — fabric weight in grams per square metre
product.metafields.fabric.width_cm (number_integer) — fabric width in cm (112, 137, 150, 280, etc.)
product.metafields.fabric.stretch (single_line_text) — "None", "2-way stretch", "4-way stretch"
product.metafields.fabric.drape (single_line_text) — "Stiff", "Medium", "Drapey", "Very fluid"
product.metafields.fabric.opacity (single_line_text) — "Opaque", "Semi-sheer", "Sheer" — critical for fashion fabric buyers
product.metafields.fabric.pattern_repeat_cm (single_line_text) — "12 × 8 cm pattern repeat" for printed fabrics
product.metafields.fabric.finish (single_line_text) — "Matte", "Satin", "Metallic", "Brushed", "Pre-washed"

Care instructions

product.metafields.fabric.wash_temp (single_line_text) — "30°C machine wash", "Hand wash only", "Dry clean only"
product.metafields.fabric.iron (single_line_text) — "Low heat", "Medium heat", "Do not iron"
product.metafields.fabric.tumble_dry (boolean) — tumble dry safe

Usage guidance

product.metafields.fabric.suitable_for (list.single_line_text) — "Dresses", "Blouses", "Quilting", "Upholstery", "Curtains"
product.metafields.fabric.difficulty_level (single_line_text) — "Beginner", "Intermediate", "Advanced" — useful for craft/sewing customers
product.metafields.fabric.pre_wash_recommended (boolean) — whether to pre-wash before cutting

Colour and pattern variants

Each colour/print is typically a separate product (not a variant) if it has unique images, description, and independent stock
When colours are variants of the same base fabric: use Colour as a variant option with swatch images
Variant images: each colour variant needs its own set of images — main swatch photo + on-model/drape/use photo
Colour swatch on product page: requires theme that shows colour swatch selector (Dawn supports this via color swatches setting)
Collections: organize by colour family (Blues, Neutrals, Prints) and by usage (Dress Fabrics, Curtain Fabrics)

Swatch samples

Fabric buyers often want to see/feel before buying full metres — swatch orders are common:

Create a "Fabric Swatch" product: £1–2 per swatch, ships as small letter
Use a swatch selector app (Swatch King, Product Options by Bold) to link swatches to main fabric products
Tag: swatch on sample products for easy filtering in admin
Post-swatch email sequence: follow up 3–5 days after swatch order with "Did you love your swatch?" email linking back to full fabric product

Roll/bolt inventory management

Fabrics come in rolls/bolts with fixed length (e.g., 30m bolt)
Stock management: track in metres. A 30m bolt = 30 units at the "per metre" price.
Last-metre alert: when stock falls below 2m remaining, flag as "only Xm remaining" using low stock metafield or inventory alert
Remnants: short lengths (0.5m–2m remaining from a roll) — create a "Remnants" collection with discounted pricing. Useful for quilters and crafters.
WooCommerce inventory: if you tracked stock in metres in WooCommerce, migrate as exact quantity to Shopify.

Haberdashery products

Non-fabric items in a haberdashery (zips, buttons, thread, etc.) are standard Shopify products:

Zips: variants for length (18cm, 22cm, 30cm, 50cm) and colour. Sold as single units.
Buttons: sold per single or per card (6 buttons, 10 buttons). Unit clearly stated in title.
Thread: variants for colour (often 100+ colours). Bobbin weight (small, large).
Elastic: sold by the metre (same approach as fabric) or in fixed-length packs.
Interfacing: by the metre or pre-cut sizes (A4 sheets, A0 sheets).

Fabric migration checklist

Choose metre-selling approach: length variants (recommended for most stores) or metre input app
Create fabric metafield namespace: composition, weight_gsm, width_cm, stretch, drape, opacity, care instructions
Migrate all WooCommerce custom field fabric specifications to metafields
Set up colour variants with per-colour images (swatch photo + use photo)
Configure inventory in metres for all per-metre products
Create Swatch Sample product for key fabrics; set up post-swatch email sequence
Build Remnants collection for sub-2m lengths
Set up collections by usage (Dress Fabrics, Curtain Fabrics, Quilting) and by colour family
Configure Search & Discovery filters: Composition, Weight (GSM), Width, Suitable For, Stretch
Test metre purchase flow: select length, select colour, add to cart, checkout — verify price calculations
Enable PDF sewing patterns as digital products (Shopify Digital Downloads app)

The "sold by the metre" problem is the most technically distinctive challenge in fabric retail migration, but it's solved with the length variants approach in the vast majority of cases. The deeper value in migrating to Shopify is in the discovery layer: a fabric buyer searching for "navy blue stretch fabric for dresses, 150cm wide" can find it in three filter clicks if the fabric metafields (composition, stretch, width, suitable_for) are correctly populated and exposed as Search & Discovery filters. WooCommerce stores rarely had this level of faceted search without expensive plugins. On Shopify with the Search & Discovery app, it's a configuration task that takes an afternoon and dramatically improves the browsing experience for customers who know what they want but need to find it in a catalogue of hundreds of fabrics.

Migrating a fabric & textiles store from WooCommerce to Shopify (2026)