Design Guide · 7 min read
What Is A Tech Pack And Why Your Quote Depends On It
A tech pack is the document that turns an idea into a quotable, producible garment. Without one, every quote you receive is a guess.
Buyers often ask why one factory quotes half the price of another for the same product. Frequently the answer is that neither quote was for the same product, because neither was based on a specification. A tech pack removes that ambiguity.
What Goes In A Tech Pack
- Size measurement chart - every measurement point, at every size in the run.
- Design drawing - a flat sketch showing construction, seams and panels.
- Vector artwork files - not a photo of a sample, and not a flattened JPEG.
- Woven label requirements - size, position, artwork and material.
- Washing and care label requirements - wording, symbols and market specific text.
- Packaging requirements - box, card, hook, polybag, sleeve, barcode placement.
- Accessories and trims - elastic, lace, hardware, bows, drawcords, everything.
The Size Measurement Chart
This is the part buyers most often skip, and it is the part that causes the most returns. A reference chart is a starting point, not an answer. The chart used on a quote should be your chart, adjusted for your customer, not the factory house block.
Artwork
Print artwork must be supplied as vector files with Pantone TPX references. A raster image will lose detail once it is laid across a graded pattern, and screen colour never matches dyed fabric. On print heavy styles the artwork is re-laid for each size so that placement holds across the grade.
If You Cannot Produce One
Many small brands and e-commerce sellers have no pattern or technical capability at all. That is a normal position to be in, and it is what the ODM route exists for: the design team develops the block, the artwork and the trim story, and the output is a real tech pack that you keep.
What Happens After You Send It
- The style is matched to a mill in the right cluster with the right audit status.
- Fabric, trims, print method, waistband, packing and packaging are costed as separate lines.
- Lab dips, fabric swatches, print strike offs and samples are produced for approval.
- Only when every approval is signed off does bulk start - around 50 to 60 days.
