A Professional Tech Pack is a comprehensive document used in the fashion industry, like the blueprint for bringing a clothing design to life. It is also called a specification sheet, a set of documents that designers use to explain their designs to manufacturers who will change them into finished garments. Most contractors and factories will only accept your orders to outsource garment production once you provide them with a proper and detailed Professional Tech Pack. This document helps reduce the hassle by clearly specifying the desired details for the upcoming garment. It helps minimize misunderstandings and saves both time and cost. Whether you’re an independent designer working on a small collection or a large brand mass-producing garments, having a well-constructed Professional Tech Pack can make or break your project.
You might have realized that the tech pack is essential in fashion and apparel. In this blog, we will cover everything one should know about tech packs and help you build one yourself, step by step. Whether you’re new to the concept or looking to refine your process, you will be ready to make a professional tech pack for your next design by the end.
What is Tech Pack?
As mentioned, a tech pack is a blueprint ensuring the designer’s vision is accurately translated into a finished garment.
A tech pack includes the following :
- Design sketches: It’s the visual representation of the garment from various angles. It allows the manufacturer to get a better idea of what the garment would exactly look like.
- Material and fabric details: Through a tech pack, one can understand the specifications of fabrics, trims, and other components.
- Construction details: These usually have all the instructions on the kind of stitching, finishing, and various assembly techniques.
- Labelling and packaging instructions: A tech pack also has information about the requirements of various tags, labels, and packaging methods.
- Colours and artwork: information on the options of colours and the embellishments or placement of prints are also mentioned in the tech pack.
By gathering all the necessary details in one document, a tech pack acts as a central reference point for everyone involved in the production process.
Role of tech pack in garment production process
The tech pack plays an essential role in the garment production process. It starts with the initial sample and guides the process to bulk manufacturing. It is a necessary reference that the manufacturers use to make the exact garment with the correct specifications provided by the designer. A tech pack ensures consistency by maintaining uniformity in production, significantly when scaling up quantities. It also sets the benchmarks for quality, thus allowing systematic checks during production. Manufacturers would have to guess or repeatedly ask for clarification without a tech pack, leading to errors, delays, and potential extra costs.
Tech packs serve as a communication tool between designers and manufacturers. When the designers and manufacturers are not together, the manufacturer might need clarification about what shade of colour to use or what kind of print to put. In these situations, a well-detailed tech pack comes in handy. It bridges the gap between the designers and the manufacturers and reduces the misunderstandings between them.
Tech packs reduce back-and-forth communication and eradicate the chances of errors caused by misconceptions. Manufacturers might misinterpret the design elements without tech packs, leading to many production delays and an extreme cost surge.
Importance for Quality Control, Timelines, and Cost-Effectiveness
Without tech packs, ensuring quality control would become extremely difficult. Tech packs include exact measurements, material choices, and construction materials and reduce confusion about the constriction techniques or materials to use. Tech packs allow manufacturers to produce consistent garments that meet the designers’ needs.
They also maintain timelines by reducing the likelihood of errors and revisions, ensuring that the production stays on schedule. Since everything is laid out in the tech pack itself, manufacturers do not need to constantly ask the designers about the specifications, which saves them much time. They do not need to stop and ask for clarifications at every step, resulting in faster turnaround times.
Critical components of a tech pack
You must have realized that a tech pack is one of the most essential things in the fashion industry. Let me break down its components for you. Each part is crucial in ensuring your garment turns out as you imagined. Let’s walk through the essential elements of a tech pack step by step.
Step 1: Cover page
The cover page is like the intro to your project. This is where you will include the information about your project. If it’s a collection, you will talk about that, too, in this component. If applicable, you’ll also list essential details like the designer’s name, the brand, and the season or style number.
It’s a great way of letting anyone looking into your tech pack have a sneak peek of what they will dive into. The cover page also helps keep everything organized and in one place.
Step 2: Flat Sketches
We have discussed much technical stuff, and now let us come to the main deal: “your designs.” Think of flat sketches as the blueprint for your garment; now, you might come at me saying the entire “tech pack” is the blueprint for our garment, so what about flat sketches now? Well, flat sketches are the main component of your entire tech pack.
These are simple, 2D technical drawings of the design from different angles—usually front, back, and sometimes side views. Flat sketches focus on the technical details, unlike fashion illustrations, which are more artistic. They use clean lines on the garments, which are laid flat; this makes it easier for the manufacturers to understand the design and curate an exact garment as designed by the designer.
One thing to keep in mind while making a flat sketch is accuracy. Accuracy is paramount in a tech pack, as the manufacturers will use those as a reference. Every hook, pocket, and button placement must be crystal clear to avoid confusing manufacturers.
Step 2: Measurements and Size Specifications
Now it’s time to get good with numbers! This is where you must provide a complete list of measurements for the garment. For instance, you need to give measurements for the bust, waist, hips, sleeves length, top length, and everything else required for the garment.
If you are designing something that comes in various sizes, remember to include a size chart showing how the measurements vary from size to size. As mentioned, accuracy is the key to a perfect tech pack; make sure the sizes mentioned are highly accurate, as that decides how the garments fit the customers. Even a little mistake here and there might ruin the entire fit.
Step 3: Materials and fabrics
This section is where you decide the materials and the fabrics that will be used for your garments. Use as many details as you can, like adding fabric composition, the weight of the fabrics, and the colour codes, ensuring that the garment will turn out exactly how you had intended.
If you have any suppliers you are working with, remember to include their contact details, references, or even codes, if any, so the manufacturer won’t have to look for the desired material.
Step 4: Construction details
This is the section to get into the nitty-gritty! The construction details will have all the information about how the garment should be assembled. It will have all the details like the stitching techniques, seam finishes, and any other special techniques you want, which should only be mentioned here.
Be as specific as possible in this section because these construction details will impact your garment’s overall quality and design.
Step 5: Colorways and artwork
If your designs include various colours or prints, this is where you will mention all those details. List all the available colour options (also known as colorways), and let us know if you want to use any artwork, such as logos, prints, or embroideries. Remember to mention specifically where the artwork should be made so the manufacturer does not cause any blunder. If you are using any Pantone colours or fabric swatches, this is where you should include them. The more specific you are with the artwork placements and the colours, the better your garments will turn out how you want them to be, so be very specific about those.
The more specific you are with colours and artwork placement, the less likely you will be surprised when the samples or final products come back from the manufacturer.
Step 6: Labeling and packaging options
Remember to mention all the labelling and packaging information at the end. Ensure that every garment has proper labels with information about how to care for them, the material composition, or even the country of origin. You must also specify where the labels must be placed on the garments.
Packaging is quite essential for your brand, as it represents your presentation style. If you want the garments to be folded in a certain way, remember to add that. If they are to be put in any package or box, let the manufacturers know that, too.
Now that the components are broken down for you, making a tech pack will be easy, and you will enjoy the process. Each section is integral in converting your design into a sumptuous garment, so be very specific with the instructions and make it as detailed as possible. Through these steps, you can create the piece that you have envisioned.
Build a professional tech pack.
Now that you know the essential components of a tech pack, it’s going to be a smoother ride actually to create one. Let’s walk through the process together, and by the end of this, you will indeed become a pro at curating tech packs.
Step 1: Start with the basics – Flat Sketch and Design Concept
The first thing that you must do is put your design onto paper (or screen)! This is when you place your flat sketches to work. Flat sketches are the simple, 2D technical drawings of your garment; they show all the sides, the front, back, and sides, giving the manufacturers the perfect design to build your clothes.
You do not have to be a perfect illustrator for this, but be as detailed as you can; make sure to mark where the seems could be placed, the proper placement for the buttons(if any), the type of the buttons, chains, or any other design elements.
If you’re uncomfortable drawing by hand, you can use Adobe Illustrator or CLO 3D tools to create your sketches. These software programs are widely used in the fashion industry, making the process much easier, especially if you’re doing more complex designs.
The ultimate goal of a flat sketch is to ensure that the manufacturer gets a proper idea of how to construct the garment and what it should be like.
Step 2: Measurements and Size Charts
One of the most essential aspects of constructing a tech pack is being extremely specific, and this is where you need to play with numbers! This step is crucial because accurate measurements will ensure your garments fit properly. You should create a detailed size chart where every kind of body measurement should be present and in which your garments would be available. Typical measurements include bust, waist, hips, sleeve length, inseam, and shoulder width.
Here’s a simple example of how a size chart might look:
Size | Bust (in) | Waist (in) | Hips (in) | Sleeve Length (in) |
S | 32 | 26 | 36 | 24 |
M | 34 | 28 | 38 | 24.5 |
L | 36 | 30 | 40 | 25 |
Keep the size chart as precise and accurate as possible; this will ensure that your garments fit well and that the manufacturers do not make any mistakes while creating them.
Step 3: Choosing Materials and Components
Now, you need to specify the garments, trims, and various accessories required for your garments. Think of this as writing out the “ingredients” for your design. You’ll want to be as specific as possible here.
For fabrics, mention details like fabric composition (e.g., 100% cotton, 80% polyester/20% spandex), texture (e.g., lightweight jersey, heavyweight twill) or fabric weight.
If you want trims, specify where the buttons, zippers, or elastics should be placed.
Pro tip: Work with fabric suppliers to get the correct fabric codes, weights, and swatches you can include in your tech pack. This will lead to more clarity during production.
Step 4: Defining Construction Methods
In this step of the very long process of building a tech pack, you will mention how the garment should be sewn. You will outline the specific construction methods that you want for your garment. Ensure you mention the kinds of stitching, seams, or finishes you want. For example, specify French seams for a clean-finished interior; if durability is vital, you might ask for double stitching.
Be clear while explaining these design techniques. The more precise you are with these instructions, the better your garments will be created.
Step 5: Adding Colorways and Artwork
Are you creating something with a lot of colorways and artwork? Be precise about the colour palette and add the various colour options you want to use in your garments. If any logos or artwork needs to be on the garment, specify where they should be placed.
Use fabric swatches or Pantone colour codes to get the exact shade you want in your garments to get the perfect colours. It will be beneficial for the manufacturers as well, and it would lead to less confusion and save time.
Step 6: Packaging and Labeling Requirements
This is an integral part of the entire process. Now that your garment is designed and ready for production, you must mention packaging and labelling requirements. Remember to add clear instructions about how to take care of the garments. You need to mention the care labels, and in this section, you will say where the labels are to be put, for example, inside the neckline, side seams, or wherever. Also, add other information like how to take care of the garment, how to wash them (e.g., wash cold, tumble dry low), material composition (e.g., 100% cotton), and country of origin (e.g., Made in India).
Step 7: Creating a Bill of Materials (BOM)
Bill Of Materials is a list of everything that will go into producing the entire garment. This includes the fabric, trims, labels, zippers, thread, and packaging. Check this as often as possible and ensure you mention everything necessary here.
The BOM should list every item, quantity, code, and supplier. Mention all the necessary details to create a faster process.
So that is all; following the steps mentioned above can help you build a great tech pack, which is essential in the fashion industry. It’s more than just a document; it’s the key to translating your design ideas into a finished product that meets your standards.
Since a tech pack provides clear and detailed instructions, it minimizes misunderstandings, reduces errors, and helps streamline production, thus saving time and money. It’s like a bridge connecting designers and manufacturers, ensuring everyone involved has a clear vision of how the garment should look.
Taking the time to invest in a detailed, professional tech pack will pay off immensely. It keeps your production process running smoothly, maintains consistent quality, and ultimately brings your creative ideas to life with precision. So, as you embark on your garment manufacturing journey, remember that a tech pack is an essential tool for turning your concepts into reality, ensuring the success of your brand, and building solid relationships with your production partners.
Conclusion
We hope this list of A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Professional Tech Pack gave you a good starting point for you to build something that stand the test of times. If you are looking to start a clothing brand, we recommend that you read our guide – how to start a clothing brand.
If you have already started a fashion brand and you are looking for suppliers, do read our guide on how to find clothing manufacturers and do not forget to download our checklists. If you want to get in touch with us, please connect with us here.
We also have a separate section – Commonly asked questions about the most expensive clothing brands, it is worth checking out.
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