A tech pack is 

a document containing all the technical information about your product. It's
an essential document for both designers and production teams when producing new
collections, as it helps clearly communicate every little detail about what you are making, to your
manufacturer.

A tech pack is a document containing all the technical information about your

product. It’s an essential document for both designers and production teams
when producing new collections, as it helps clearly communicate every little
detail about what you are making, to your manufacturer.

Many designers, however, often overlook or rush through this document

dismissing it as unimportant, leading to communication breakdowns further down
the line and avoidable costly mistakes and delays. Read on to find out exactly
why techpacks are so important.

What does a good tech pack include?

 Technical drawings, CAD, construction notes, dimensions and fit
log: Annotated flat drawings showing a front and back view and close-ups of any
design details such as packets, pleats, etc., seams, bartacks, stitching details
and a table with all product dimensions and the size and placement of each
component.
 Quantities & sizing: A table indicating the quantities you are looking for
and the size split.
 Materials: Information on each key raw material that makes up your
product, with name, colourways, composition, weight, finish, and a nominated
supplier if you have one.
 Components: Information on each component that makes up your product
– embroideries, prints, labels, buttons, tags, threads, trims, fastenings and
embellishments.
 Sample and fit feedback
 Order details: Desired delivery date, bulk production delivery address and
details on how you want your products packaged and packed.

Why is a tech pack important?

1. Reduces mistakes and improves communication

Tech packs make communication between you and your manufacturer easier

and clearer, reducing misunderstandings and mistakes. A strong tech pack is
even more important when manufacturing abroad, across time zones, language
and cultural differences and are considered a universal system for enabling
production.

You can ensure that the garment you have designed is made to your exact
specification. Your clothing manufacturer will be able to use all the technical
drawings, measurements and details of components that you provide to
accurately replicate your design. In this way, it reduces the risk that a mistake will
happen during sampling and bulk production.

2.  Acts as a production manual

Usually, you have a single point of contact at a factory who looks after the
entirety of your order; from designing, sourcing, sampling and production.
However, during this process, your product passes through many different
people and departments within the factory and they all need to be working from
the same document or platform as each other. Revisions and details will
inevitably get lost or misinterpreted if not all in the same document or platform, so
your tech pack essentially becomes an instruction manual bringing clarity,
consistency and cohesion throughout the production process.

3. Reduces lead times and avoids delays.

A design that comes with a detailed pack shortens sampling lead times, avoids
mistakes and ultimately helps you bring your product to market quicker. It also
helps the factory effectively plan the manpower and resources needed, and block
out production capacity well ahead of time.

If you send a comprehensive tech pack along with a request for an initial quote,
your manufacturer can break down your costs into materials, component and
labour costs and will be able to cost more accurately and quickly, which means
more control over cash flow. All of this information helps you work out margins
and identify whether you need to make fundamental changes to your
collection before you begin pattern making, sourcing and sampling.

5. Saves time with future collections

A tech pack can be referred back to at any time. When starting the next
collection, slight changes to certain elements of your product are sufficient and
tech packs can easily be reused

What are the best tools for creating a Tech Pack?

Microsoft Excel and Adobe Illustrator are the most common programs used for
creating tech packs. Although these are great tools that are easily customisable
and quick for teams to learn, it’s not built with the unique and complex needs of
fashion production and product development in mind. Although it may seem
easier at first to create a tech pack in Adobe, Excel or Powerpoint, problems
arise with these tools as the product evolves through the product development
process; when edits are made, versions attached and sent via email.

What are the key challenges with current tools?

1. Harder for Collaboration: Tech Packs are collaborative documents, both

your team and your manufacturers need to edit, comment or modify. This
is not so easy to do on read-only attachments, .pdfs, or offline documents.
Comments and changes need to be made in real-time.
2. Risk of making costly mistakes: Tech packs made using Excel or similar
tools are either attached or uploaded to a platform like We Transfer and
embedded as a link and sent via email. It increases the possibility of the
files not being sent to the right individuals, or in some cases, the link
expiring! This method also makes it easy to attach the wrong version, too
many attachments being sent or a critical bit of sample feedback forgotten.
These small human errors can be very costly. 
3. Miscommunication: Manufacturers have to get used to the unique tech
packs for every brand they produce for — it’s easier for them if there is a
certain degree of standardization across all the tech packs they receive
from every brand.

Digital tech packs are the future

Digital tech packs have similar functionality to those made on tools like Excel or
Google Sheets, but because they are created, shared and modified in a cloud-
based software used by both brands and manufacturers. Teams can create
digital tech packs in minutes through the SupplyCompass Platform 

Top 5 benefits of digital tech packs

1. Faster to create
2. Intuitive to use
3. Easy to share
4. Real-time collaboration
5. Single source of truth

What is a garment tech pack?

A tech pack is also known as a specification sheet. Tech packs contain detailed information
about your garment design like the size measurements, care label instructions, art-work
placement, fabric specifications, packing instructions etc. Factories use your tech pack to quote
price and make samples. Below is a list of 27 detailed questions that are answered in a
complete tech pack.

I like to think of a tech pack as a contract between fashion designer and garment manufacturer.
If you live in New York and are having your garments produced in Ho Chi Minh City, then you
will need to communicate your design ideas over a language and culture divide. All the details of
your garment need to be communicated, understood, discussed and brought to life by a team of
people from a different culture who speak a different language. Tech packs facilitate this
process by putting all the design details on paper in numbers and images to prevent
misunderstandings. When problems happen you can easily know who was at fault by
referencing the tech packs.

You have an idea in your mind. You need to communicate your idea to a Vietnamese
merchandiser. The Vietnamese merchandiser can not read your mind. This is why you
absolutely must write down your ideas in technical terms in a tech pack. Otherwise gross
misunderstandings are guaranteed which wastes time and money.

Next is an example of: What is a garment tech pack or spec sheet?

Why is it necessary to use a garment tech pack or

spec sheet?
A good sewing factory will quote price quickly and make a sample quickly. To do this they need
the detailed information that is in your tech pack. If the factory has to guess what the details are
and they guess wrong then they are losing time and time is money. Factories like to work with
fashion brands who know exactly what they want and can communicate it clearly one time so
that the factory’s team can get the price quote and sample right the first time. A well done tech
pack shows the factory that the designer knows what they want and gives the sewing factory
confidence that there will not be any significant changes. Change is the enemy for both sides.
Know what is a garment tech pack or spec sheet and use it to communicate all the details of
your garment efficiently.

27 Questions that a Tech Pack Answers

1. What is the name of your brand?

2. What is the designers name?

3. What is the short description of the garment?

4. What season does this garment belong to?

5. What is the date this tech pack was created?

6. What is the technical description of the main fabric?

7. What is the style name?

8. What is the style #?

9. What is the size range?

10. What is the sample size?

11. Do you have an image for the sample fabric swatch that shows details like

artwork, pattern or texture?

12. Do you have a technical drawing (aka flat sketch?)

13. Do you know the item name, item description, color, sku #, quantity and supplier
name for every item in your bill of materials?

14. Do you have pictures that show the details of each trim like, buttons, zippers,

labels or patches?

15. Do you have pictures that show the details of each accessory like hang-tags,

poly-bags or carton boxes?

16. Does your technical drawing call out all the special elements of your design like

velcro strips, snaps, secret pockets or water proof seams?

 17. Does your construction diagram list the sewing operation, stitch type, stitch width,

stitches per inch, seam orientation and seam allowance?

18. Do you know the exact Pantone color code for every element of your design

including fabric, lining, buttons, zippers and thread?

19. Do you have the original artwork for any printing that needs to be done on the

fabric, trims or accessories?

20. Do you have all the correct wording for your main labels and care labels?

21. Do you know the exact materials, dimensions and placements for all your main

labels and care labels?

22. What type of card-stock and print quality do you want for your hang-tags?

23. What material and thickness do you want for your poly-bags? Do they have an

adhesive strip?

24. What are you folding instructions?

25. Do you have the exact measurements for at least one size?

26. Do you have the exact graded measurements for the full size range?

27. Do you have an accurate technical drawing that shows where to take

measurements from when doing quality control checks?

When a new customer comes to us and does not know what a tech pack is then we
know their garment professional level. We know that we will have to teach, train and
make many counter samples which will cost us time and money that the customer
doesn’t want to pay for. This is why I always ask, “do you know what a garment tech
pack or spec sheet is?”

Book: What is a garment tech pack?

A tech pack is a set of documents also known as a spec sheet. A tech pack includes information
like:
1. Image of garment with measurement points
2. Fabric composition
3. Size chart and size ratio
4. Care Label dimensions, placement and text.
5. Print artwork etc
All the details of your garment need to be communicated clearly in order for a factory to quote
price accurately.

Tech packs facilitate this process by putting all the design details on paper in numbers and
images to prevent misunderstandings and easy know who was at fault when mistakes happen.
Essentially a tech pack is like a contract for each garment.

How to create a Tech Pack using new technologies

As with everything, there’s an old school way of building tech packs and an easier,
more tech savvy way to build them.

For years, Excel has been the de facto tool to create Tech Packs for the fashion
industry. And for good reason. It’s versatile, jam-packed with features and based
on something very familiar: spreadsheets. But this is the crux of the problem.

First of all spreadsheets are static. Your Tech Packs and product info is divided
into tabs and spread out inside different files and folders. Your communication
and comments are spread out between emails and multiple spreadsheets. And
you’re spending an uncanny amount of time copy-pasting.
Each row that could be a sketch, material or a measurement of your design is a
card that houses all its related images, comments and files. And at any time in just
one click you can turn this visual board into a PDF ready Tech Pack, exactly how
you print your spreadsheets on Excel, perfect for uploading into your
MakersValley project. Unlike Excel, this visual approach gives you a big-picture
snapshot of your entire product development process in one glance. You don’t
have to switch between tabs when double-checking or editing different sections in
your Tech Pack. Sketches, bill of materials, point of measurements, costings, etc. -
everything is visible on a single page.

Here are a few examples of PDF ready tech packs inclusive of all the design details
mentioned above – Men’s Jacket, Women’s dresses, bed linens, and Handbag.

Tech Pack Related Communication between designer

and manufacturer
Poor communication between designer and manufacturer may cause
misunderstandings and delays in production. It is crucial to keep conversation
threads well organized and accessible at any time. Especially if you have to keep
up with several threads with different manufacturers.
While digging through emails can be time-consuming and nerve-racking, new
cloud-based technologies that allow communicating in one place, like Techpacker,
really come in handy.

A garment specification sheet is a technical document that contains the construction details
of the product, a technical diagram/ sketch of the garment, measurements of the product.
Here fashion is referred to the apparel and clothing products. The fashion designer
communicates the design concept through the specification sheet. The stitch class and seam
type are mentioned in the sketch. The diagram also communicates different measuring
points by English letter (symbol).

To make the garment pattern, grading of the patterns for different sizes, developing a
sample and sourcing of the materials, the spec sheet is followed.

The initial specification sheet is made for developing a proto sample. Later the specification
sheet (measurement chart) may be revised after checking the sample FIT and garment
construction. In the sampling stage, the quality inspector and buyer QA follow the
instruction in the specification for the sample checking and sample approval.

At each stage of sample approval, buyer adds comments of the specification sheet (tech
pack). All the comments on the sample and modifications on workmanship and material are
incorporated in the next sample development and bulk production.

In the bulk production, the revised and approved garment specification sheet is referred for
internal quality checking and the final shipment inspection.

The specification sheet also coined as a spec sheet. The specification is part of an apparel
tech pack though many uses both the term interchangeably. 

Difference Between a Spec Sheet and a Techpack

The specification sheet is commonly referred to as 'Spec Sheet'. The spec sheet is a
component of the Technical Package (Techpack), where the Techpack contains absolutely
everything required in making the garments - in the sampling stages, in bulk production, in
finishing, and in the packing garment. 
 In the fashion industry, the spec sheet and techpack are created by the designer or the
product developer. 
Though sometimes we use spec sheet and Techpack terms interchangeably, these two terms
are different. To differentiate these two terms we can use the following parameters.

To develop a garment sample, you need a full techpack. The spec sheet contains part of
tecpack information, mainly the technical sketch of the garment and measurement chart for
multiple sizes with grading and measurement tolerances.
 
With a spec sheet, you can only make the garment patterns and check garment
measurements.
 
Contents of a spec sheet and Techpack
By going through the contents of the spec sheet and Techpack, it would be more clear to
you. 

Content of a Spec Sheet  

 Product Code (Style Number For Fabric And Fabrication)

 Product Description
 Technical Sketch
 Detailed Measurements
 Placement Details
 Materials and Trims
 Reference Materials
 Graded Spec
Content of a Techpack  

 A Pattern
 Testing Details (FPT and GPT requirement)
 Costing Details
 Quality requirement 
 Technical sketch
 Workmanship and stitching instructions
 Sample of Fabric, colour combination for trims for different base colours
 Packaging Information
 Bill Of Material (BOM)
 Updated with comments on garment samples submitted to buyers. Mainly size set
sample and PP sample comments.
 Some buyers also include mini marker and fabric consumptions in the apparel
techpack