Tech Pack Checklist

Less than most founders expect. A quote prices fabric, labour, trims and quantity, so the lines that move the number are the ones to settle first: the garment type with a front and back sketch (sections 1 and 2 above), fabric composition and weight in GSM (section 4), any custom trims such as a branded zip puller or a woven drawcord tip (section 5), the decoration method with artwork size and position (section 7), and the quantity per style and per colour (section 9). Packaging and destination help too, as they change the carton count and freight. A size chart and grading matter far more for the first sample than for the price, so a missing measurement page rarely holds up a quote. Where a line is still undecided, write both options, such as 240 or 280 GSM, and ask for both prices. Our free tech pack template has a box for every one of these lines.

Not to start, but you need the decisions a tech pack records before bulk begins. Our minimum is 150 pieces per style and per colour, and on a run that size every sampling round counts: sampling takes about 10 days, and the 40 to 50 days of production only start once you approve the sample, so each extra round of corrections pushes the launch back by roughly another sampling cycle. A sketch, a garment you like or a written description is enough to open the conversation, and we build the tech pack with you from it. What matters is that by sample approval every section on this checklist has an answer, because the finished order is checked against that document. Count colourways early too: two colours of one tee means two minimums, 300 pieces. For a head start, our T-shirt, hoodie and jogger templates come with example values already filled in.

A spec sheet is one part of a tech pack. In most factories the phrase means the measurement page: the points of measure, the base size, a tolerance beside each point and the grade across sizes. On this checklist that is section 3, and only section 3. The tech pack is the whole instruction set around it: sketches, fabric, trims, colours, branding, packaging and quantities, the other eight sections. The confusion is about words rather than documents. Some brands and suppliers say spec sheet when they mean a one-page summary of the entire garment, and others use the two terms as if they were the same thing. So when a supplier asks for a spec sheet, ask which they mean, and send the complete pack anyway. Measurements on their own produce a sample that fits, but they leave the fabric weight, the shade and the stitching for someone else to choose, and that choice may not be yours.

Whoever knows the garment best, helped by someone who knows production. There are three usual routes. You can write it yourself from a template, which suits simple garments where the real decisions are fabric, fit and print; start from our T-shirt tech pack template or the general template, and use this checklist to spot what is still blank. You can hire a freelance technical designer, which is worth considering for a complicated piece with many panels, linings or hardware, or if you plan to send the same pack to several factories. Or you can build it with the factory. We offer this: send a sketch or a reference garment, and during sampling we turn it into measurements, a fabric specification and construction notes the floor can sew from. Whichever route you choose, you stay the person who approves it, so read every line before you sign off the sample.

The gaps sit in the sections people treat as finishing touches. Care and content labels come up often: fibre composition, wash instructions and country of origin must be printed exactly, and the required wording differs by market, so tell us where you sell. Custom trims come next, because a branded puller or a printed drawcord has its own minimum and its own lead time and has to be ordered while the fabric is booked. Then the inside of the garment: the back neck finish, seam finishes and what the main label is sewn into, none of which a front view shows. Packaging is often left until last, though fold, polybag and carton size are needed to quote freight. Finally, the colour tie-break: when a Pantone reference and a physical swatch disagree, say which one wins. Most are a single line on this checklist, in sections 2 and 5 to 8, so tick through those before you send.

Yes. Collective Studio's tech pack checklist is free on this page, with no email or sign-up, and it prints as a tick-list with spaces for the style, version and date at the top. It covers the nine sections a factory needs: garment overview, technical sketch, measurements, materials and fabric, trims and components, colours, branding and labels, packaging, and quantities. Each section lists the items to tick and explains why it matters and what goes wrong when it is left blank. Print it, tick through it and send it with your enquiry. If you would rather type into a document, our free tech pack template covers the same ground as a three-page PDF or an Excel file, and there are garment versions for T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, joggers, shorts and polos. You do not need every box ticked to get a quote; a sketch or a reference garment is enough to start the conversation.

A complete tech pack has nine sections: garment overview, technical sketch, measurements, materials and fabric, trims and components, colours, branding and labels, packaging, and quantities. The overview names the style, the garment type, the fit and any reference garment. The sketch shows front and back views, with close-ups of special details such as pockets, seams and prints. Measurements give a size chart with named points of measure, the base size and the grading rules. Materials state the fabric type, the composition and the weight in GSM, plus any certification required. Trims cover threads, drawcords, zips, buttons, eyelets and the care and content labels. Colours list each colourway with Pantone references and which part is which colour. Branding gives the label and artwork placement, the print or embroidery size and the hang tags. Packaging says how each piece is folded and packed, and quantities give the pieces per style, colour and size, with the target launch date.

Usually because the measurements were missing, vague or taken differently from the way the factory measures, which makes them the single most common cause of a failed first sample. The fix sits in section 3 of the checklist. Give every measurement flat, in centimetres, with the point of measure named precisely: chest one inch below the armhole, body length from the high point of the shoulder, rather than just chest and length. State your base, or sample, size, and give grading rules that show how each point changes from size to size. If you leave the grading out, the factory applies standard rules, which are rarely what a brand wants at the extreme sizes. Add a tolerance beside each point, so the sample is checked against a number rather than an opinion. Section 1 helps too: name a reference garment, because without one a factory builds to its own house block and the sample can come back a size off.

Every bought-in component: threads, drawcords, zips, buttons, eyelets and any hardware, plus the care and content labels, the main label, the hang tags and any print or embroidery. Trims matter early because they have their own minimum order quantities and their own lead times, and they are the usual reason a finished order sits waiting. A custom zip puller or a woven drawcord tip can add three weeks on its own, so a factory needs to know in time to order them alongside the fabric rather than after it. Care and content labels must state fibre composition, wash instructions and country of origin exactly, and the required wording differs by market, so say where you sell. For branding, send label artwork as a vector file, not a screenshot, and give each placement as a measurement from a fixed point rather than "centred". Keep embroidered detail above roughly five millimetres, because finer text turns into a blob of thread.

Yes, because packaging changes the carton count, and the carton count changes the freight quote, which is usually prepared before production ends. Section 8 of the checklist asks two things: how each piece is folded and packed, and whether it goes into polybags, tissue, boxes or branded packaging. A polybag or a paper bag, a single pack or a multipack, a hang tag strung or attached with a tag gun: all of them change how many pieces fit a carton. Our garment tech pack templates show the level of detail, with a flat fold to a stated size, one piece per recycled polybag with a suffocation warning, a size and barcode sticker on each bag, and a fixed number of pieces per carton in one size and one colour. If you sell into the EU, packaging also has its own law, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which has applied since 12 August 2026 and covers recyclability.