Anthracite – I believe some manufacturers have come up with a machine that will make butted mail fabric, and you can buy rectangles of it which you then assemble into whatever shape you need. That’s pretty expensive. Most people just make it the hard way; it goes pretty quick once you get into it, and somebody who’s doing this as a full time hobby (20-30 hours a week) can probably crank stuff out a lot faster than the casual mailler.
I’ve ordered some stuff from The Ring Lord. I got about 25 pounds of cut links to make a hauberk, and they’re just about perfect for it (as in, they will make a fairly sturdy mail shirt that I can wear in SCA combat and not lose links too often). The links I got were 14 gauge, 3/8" inner diameter. That’ll probably make a fairly heavy shirt (30-35 pounds with half sleeves). The pattern on his site assumes you’ll be using 16 gauge, 5/16" ID, which is lighter but not as protective or sturdy. I also got a pair of the heavier wire cutters and some coils of slightly lighter rings to try cutting my own, which takes a lot off the cost of the shirt. A lot more time and work, though, and the cuts aren’t as clean as the machine-cut links (the cut points come together like ><, rather than ||).
The pattern on his webpage seems to require about 18,000 rings. The following numbers are approximate; YMMV:
Stainless rings: $140.
Stainless coils: $66
Stainless weight: 20 lbs.
TI rings: $325.
TI coils: $275
TI weight: 11 lbs. (!)
That’s assuming the shirt is to be used for actual fighting. You could use larger rings with a smaller gauge and take a lot fewer rings, it’ll be a lot lighter, but not really useful in a fight.