What goes in a tech pack
Nine pages, in the order a factory reads them. It is the same structure StitchGrid exports, inherited from the packs that working sourcing offices already use.
01The pages
The nine pages
- 01
B&W CAD
What the garment looks like
A flat technical drawing of the front and back, drawn to proportion rather than sketched. Every page that follows annotates it.
- 02
Color CADs
What it looks like in each colorway
The same flat in every colorway, each matched to the color standard you grade against, such as a Pantone TCX code rather than a screenshot of a swatch.
- 03
Detail sketches
What the drawing cannot show
Close-ups of the parts a factory would otherwise guess at, such as pocket bags, plackets, vents, and seam finishes.
- 04
Components
What it is made of
Fabrics, each with a quality and an estimated yield, and trims, each with a quantity, with sub-materials listed beneath both. This is the page a quote is priced from.
- 05
Points of measure
What size it is
Every measurement across the size run, each with a tolerance. A measurement without a tolerance is a wish rather than a spec, and it is the most common reason a first sample comes back wrong.
- 06
Construction
How it is put together
Stitch types, seam allowances, topstitch margins, and the sampling and fit standards the factory works to.
- 07
Artwork
What is printed or embroidered on it
Placement, dimensions from a fixed reference point, and technique, included only when the style carries artwork.
- 08
Labels and hangtags
What the customer reads
Woven labels and logo trims, then fiber content, care instructions, and country of origin, which most markets require by law.
- 09
Revision log
What changed, and when
Every change, dated. Without it, a factory quoting revision 4 against a sample sewn from revision 2 has no way of knowing, and neither do you.
02Where they go wrong
Four mistakes that cost a sample round
A sample round costs four to six weeks and a few hundred dollars, and each of these mistakes buys you another.
Points of measure with no tolerance
A 52cm chest cannot be built to. A 52cm chest within 1cm is a spec a factory can pass or fail, and a sample you can reject.
Colors named in words
"Navy" in Tiruppur is a different color from navy in your studio. Name the color book and the code, and say which one wins if a lab dip disagrees.
A reference photo instead of a flat
A photo shows one sample, in one light, on one body, while a flat states proportion. Factories quote and grade from the flat, so a pack without one gets quoted with padding for the unknown.
No revision log
Every change after the first quote is a price change somebody has to notice. Undated edits are how a brand ends up paying for a sample it already corrected.
03Without drawing it
You do not have to own CAD to own a spec
Most brands that need a tech pack do not need design help. They know the garment and simply need it written down the way a factory reads it.
Start from a sample
Photograph a garment you already have, or write the brief. Either way, you end up in the same place.
The flats are drawn
The photo and the flat are read together, so the drawing describes the garment rather than the way it was posed.
You confirm the flats
Nothing moves forward until a person approves the drawing, because every later page annotates the flat and an error would carry through.
The rest of the pack follows
Components, points of measure, construction, and labels, exported as an .xlsx you can edit and a factory can mark up.
Correcting a flat means editing the drawing rather than redrawing it, so the measurements and components you have already reviewed survive the correction.
04Questions
Common questions
- What is a tech pack?
- A tech pack is the specification a factory builds a garment from: flat drawings, the bill of materials, graded measurements with tolerances, construction notes, labeling, and a log of what changed. It is the document a quote is priced against and the document a sample is judged against.
- Do I need a tech pack to get a quote?
- You can get an estimate without one, but not a quote worth comparing. A factory pricing a vague brief prices in the risk as well, which is why the same style quoted from a photo and from a tech pack comes back at different numbers from the same factory.
- What format should a tech pack be in?
- Whatever the factory can open and mark up, which in practice means a spreadsheet or a PDF. StitchGrid exports an .xlsx with one page per section and a repeated header band, the layout most sourcing offices already work in.
- Can I make a tech pack without a designer?
- Yes. StitchGrid drafts one from a photo of a sample or from a written brief, produces the CAD flats, and hands you an editable spec. A person confirms the flats before the rest of the pack is written, because every later page annotates the drawing and a wrong flat propagates.
- How much does a tech pack cost?
- Freelance technical designers generally charge a few hundred dollars a style and take a week or more. On StitchGrid, your first style and its tech pack are free on the Evaluate plan, and the Develop plan is $399 a month with 200 AI credits and up to five active styles. The tradeoff is that you review and correct the draft yourself rather than briefing someone else.
05Next
A spec is only worth what it gets you quoted
Know what it should cost before you send it out, then send it to factories that specialize in the category.