What Is a Tech Pack? A Beginner's Guide for Clothing Brands

A tech pack is the blueprint for your garment: one document that tells a manufacturer precisely how to make it. That is the whole meaning of the term, and there is nothing more technical hiding behind it. It removes guesswork, so the sample comes back closer to what is in your head, and bulk matches the sample.

In one sentence: a tech pack is the set of manufacturing instructions for one garment style, usually three to eight pages, covering flat sketches, a bill of materials, colourways, a graded size chart with tolerances, construction notes, and label and packing details. The factory sources, samples, sews and checks quality from it.

You will see the same document called several things, and they all mean this. Tech pack is short for technical package; British brands and UK factories more often say technical pack, and you will see techpack written as one word and spec sheet used interchangeably. If a supplier asks for your technical packages for a range, they mean one of these per style. None of it signals a different or more formal document — only a different habit.

If you want to make one rather than read about one, download our free tech pack template as a PDF or an Excel file (no sign-up), and follow our step-by-step guide to making a tech pack alongside it. This page explains what each part of a tech pack is for and what a factory does with it, so the fields make sense before you fill them in.

What goes into a tech pack

• Technical sketches, usually called flat sketches or CADs — front and back, with callouts.
• Measurements — a size chart with key points of measure and grading across sizes.
• Materials — fabric type, weight (GSM), and composition.
• Trims and components — labels, drawcords, zips, threads.
• Colours — with reference codes (e.g. Pantone) where possible.
• Construction details — stitch types, seam finishes, print or embroidery placement.
• Branding — where labels, tags, and packaging go.
• Tolerances — which measurements are critical and how far each may vary.

Here are the same parts as a factory reads them: what each section of a tech pack holds, and who on the floor depends on it.

What a tech pack is not

Three documents get mistaken for a tech pack, and each leaves a factory guessing at a different part of the garment.

• A design sketch or mood board. It shows what the garment should look like, not how big it is, what it is made of or how it is sewn. It is where a tech pack starts, not a substitute for one.
• A pattern. The pattern is the set of shapes the fabric is cut from, usually drafted by the factory’s pattern maker. The tech pack is what the pattern is drafted from and checked against. Who owns that pattern is worth agreeing in writing; our guide on whether a manufacturer will steal your design covers how.
• A contract. A tech pack records what is to be made; the price, quantity, dates and payment terms belong on the purchase order. The two work together: the order says how many, the pack says exactly what.

Do you need one to get a quote?

No. This trips up a lot of first-time founders. A sketch, a reference photo, or a clear paragraph is enough for a good manufacturer to come back with fabric options and an indicative price. The tech pack gets built and refined during sampling — and a strong partner will help you create one.

For what it's worth, from our side of the table: when a tech pack (or even a rough sketch) lands with us, the first things we check are the ones that most affect fit and cost — the fabric weight in GSM, the points of measure, and the trims. Get those three clear and we can usually turn a first sample around in about ten days. If they're not nailed down yet, that's completely normal — we fill the gaps together during sampling, and because we make from 150 pieces per style and colour, you can start small while you learn.

That is the optimistic version, and it is genuinely how most first orders go. But it is worth knowing where the cost of a thin tech pack actually lands, because it is not drama — it is rounds. Every field left open is a decision somebody has to make without you, and if it gets made differently from what you pictured, the correction happens in the next sample rather than this one. One or two extra rounds is a few more weeks and a few more couriers, which is undramatic enough to be easy to underestimate. That is the whole reason the three fields above are worth an afternoon of your time now rather than a revision later.

You don't need a finished tech pack to start. You need a clear idea and a manufacturer willing to help you shape it.

What a tech pack looks like

A tech pack is usually three to eight pages, in a fixed order a factory can work down: a style summary, flat sketches of the front and back, the bill of materials, colourways, the size chart, construction notes, labels and packaging. Below is the first page of our free T-shirt tech pack template, blank, so you can see the structure before anything is filled in. The second page carries colourways and the size chart; the third covers construction, labels, packaging and order quantities.

If you'd rather watch than read, this is our free tech pack template filled in section by section, in the order a factory works down it.

What a factory does with each page

A tech pack can feel like paperwork for its own sake until you see how it is used. Different people on the floor read different pages, which is why completeness matters more than polish.

• The sketch and construction notes go to the pattern maker, who turns them into the pieces the garment is cut from.
• The measurement chart goes to the sample room and later to QC, who check finished garments against it.
• The bill of materials goes to sourcing, who buy your fabric, thread, labels and trims — usually weeks before sewing begins.
• The artwork and placement page goes to the print or embroidery unit.
• The label and packing page goes to finishing, and it is the page most often missing, which is why orders sit completed but unshipped.

The fields most first tech packs leave out

You do not need a professional document to start — but these omissions cause real delays, and all of them are quick to fix.

Fabric weight in GSM, not just fibre. Thread colour, which is assumed to be obvious and frequently is not. Which measurements are critical versus which can vary within tolerance. Care-label wording, based on your own wash test rather than the mill’s generic advice. And the packing specification: folded or hanging, polybagged individually or in cartons, how many per carton. That last one holds up more finished orders than any construction detail. Our guide to the best GSM for hoodies and t-shirts shows how to write the weight with a tolerance and a test method.

If you have none of this, send a reference garment instead. A factory can measure a physical t-shirt and build the spec from it, which is usually faster than a founder guessing at numbers.

A tech pack example: vague lines and factory-ready lines

What separates a tech pack that works from one that produces a second sample is rarely the layout. It is whether each line can be measured or looked up. Here is the same basic T-shirt described both ways.

For a complete worked version of this garment, with every point of measure filled in, see our T-shirt tech pack template.

A tech pack example, page by page

The fastest way to understand a tech pack is to look at a real one. These are the three pages of our free general tech pack template, blank, followed by the Excel version filled in for an invented brand. It has nine numbered sections, in the order a factory reads them: what the garment is, what it is made from, what size it is, how it is sewn, and how it is labelled, packed and ordered.

Page 1 says what the garment is. Section 1, the style summary, holds the brand, style name and number, season, designer, date, version, sample size, garment type, fit and a one-line description; the version and date are what stop an old pack reaching the cutting table. Section 2 is the technical sketch: a box each for the front and back flat, with seams, pockets, prints and trims labelled. Section 3 starts the bill of materials, with a column each for placement, composition, weight in GSM, colour and supplier, beginning with the main fabric and the rib.

Page 2 says what it is made from and what size it is. The bill of materials continues with thread, drawcord, zip or buttons and a blank row. Section 4, colourways, gives each colour a name and a Pantone TCX reference, and says which colour the body, the rib and the print take. Section 5, the points of measure, is the size chart: seven measurements in centimetres, from chest width 1 cm below the armhole to bottom hem width, with a tolerance column and sizes XS to 2XL. Fill the sample-size column first; the factory grades the other sizes from it. Our guide to building a size chart covers the grading.

Page 3 says how it is sewn and finished. Section 6, construction and stitching, gives the stitch or seam type and stitches per inch for the neckline, shoulder seam, side seam, sleeve and hem. Section 7, labels and branding, lists the main, care and size labels, the hang tag and any print or embroidery, each with its material, placement and artwork reference. Section 8, packaging, covers the fold, polybag, barcode and carton. Section 9, order and approvals, records quantity per size and colour, total units, the target launch date and who approved the version that goes into production.

If you would rather start from a finished example than a blank form, download the Excel version. Its first sheet is the same nine sections with an example value in every box, for an invented brand’s heavyweight T-shirt, and two more sheets add up your order by colour and size, flagging any colour under our minimum of 150 pieces, and grade your measurements from the base size. For a T-shirt, hoodie or joggers, the T-shirt, hoodie and jogger templates keep the same nine sections but name that garment’s own parts and points of measure.

Tech pack, spec sheet, BOM: which is which

These four terms get used interchangeably and they do not mean the same thing. Knowing which one a factory is asking for saves a round of confused emails.

Do you need a separate one for every style?

One tech pack per style, yes. Colourways — colorways, if you or your supplier spell it the American way — do not each need their own: a single pack can carry a colour page listing every variant, with the Pantone reference and the matching thread and label for each. Sizes work the same way: one graded measurement chart covering the full run, not a document per size.

Where new brands over-produce documents is by writing a fresh pack for a style that is really a small edit of an existing one. A long-sleeve version of a tee you already make is a note on the existing pack, not a new project. Factories would far rather receive one pack marked up with changes than two nearly identical files, because near-identical files are how the wrong version reaches the cutting table.

Why a tech pack makes quotes comparable

A less obvious use of a tech pack comes before any sample exists. Send three factories a sentence and you get three prices for three different garments: one assumed 160 GSM, one 220, one priced a printed label where you wanted a woven one. Send them the same tech pack and the quotes describe the same product, so the difference between them is the factory, not the brief.

It also shortens the sampling that follows. A first sample made from a complete pack is checked against numbers agreed in advance, so the comments you send back are measurements rather than impressions. That is the logic of how clothing sampling works: each round should close specific gaps, and the pack is where those gaps are written down.

How much does a tech pack cost?

Anything from your own time to a per-style fee for a technical designer. Filling in a free template yourself costs only time, and for a T-shirt or a hoodie most founders can do it with a reference garment, a tape measure and an afternoon. A freelance technical designer charges per style, and the price rises with complexity: a basic tee is quick, a lined jacket is not.

If you pay someone, ask for a fixed price per style that includes revisions after the first sample, and make sure you receive the editable file, not only a PDF. The tech pack is yours, and you will update it after every sample and reorder.

Tech pack templates by garment

• T-shirt tech pack template: neck rib, neck tape and 13 points of measure.
• Hoodie tech pack template: hood, pocket, drawcord and rib.
• Jogger tech pack template: waistband, cuffs and pocket bags.
• General tech pack template in PDF and Excel, for any other garment.

How to make a simple tech pack

• Start from a reference garment you like and note what to change.
• Sketch front and back (even by hand) and label the key features.
• List fabric, weight, colours, and trims as specifically as you can.
• Add your measurements, or ask your manufacturer for a base size chart to adjust.
• Keep it in one shareable file (a PDF or a Google Doc link works).

If you would rather not start from a blank page, our tech pack checklist walks through each section and says what goes wrong when it is left empty, and the free tech pack template gives you the document itself — no sign-up, no email wall. We are a clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh making cut-and-sew knitwear from a minimum of 150 pieces per style and per colour, so a first tech pack does not have to carry a large order behind it. Or send us your sketch or a reference garment and we will help turn it into a proper spec: start here, or read how to start a brand with 150 pieces.